Guide to Online Primary Sources: Native Americans

The American Indian Movement (AIM) was founded in 1968, at a time of social change and protest and the civil rights movement. AIM used the press and media to present its own unvarnished message to the American public. This collection includes the extensive FBI documentation on the evolution of AIM as an organization of social protest, documentation on the 1973 Wounded Knee Stand-off, materials collected by the Extremist Intelligence Section. These primary sources provide insight into the motives, actions, and leadership of AIM and the development of Native American radicalism, as well as the attitudes of the US government towards this organization.

Digital collection of original photographs and documents about the Northwest Coast and Plateau Indian cultures.

"Documents a range of Indian art through black and white photography, with an emphasis on premodern temple architecture and sculpture."

Includes images, texts, and sound/video clips.

The collection currently includes "Documents Relating to the Negotiation of Ratified and Unratified Treaties With Various Indian Tribes, 1801-1869" and the "Office of Indian Affairs, Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs." Includes instructions to treaty commissioners, reports, letters, and in some cases copies of the treaties.

"Provides access to typescripts of interviews (1967 -1972) conducted with hundreds of Indians in Oklahoma regarding the histories and cultures of their respective nations and tribes. Related are accounts of Indian ceremonies, customs, social conditions, philosophies, and standards of living."

This release contains 1,482 authors and over 100,000 pages of material: letters, diaries, memoirs and accounts of early encounters in North America. The collection is centered on present-day Canada and the U. S. with limited coverage of Mexico.

"The North American Indian by Edward S. Curtis is one of the most significant and controversial representations of traditional American Indian culture ever produced... In over 2000 photogravure plates and narrative, Curtis portrayed the traditional customs and lifeways of eighty Indian tribes."

The First Nations Collection of the Southern Oregon Digital Archives consists of documents, books and articles relating to the indigenous peoples of this bioregion.

The online version of an exhibit held at the National Library of Medicine 15 April - 31 August 1994, National Institutes of Health, USA.

Includes photographs, paintings, ledger drawings, documents, serigraphs, and stereographs from 1874 through the 1940's.

Explores the history of US government Indian boarding schools in the 19th and 20th centuries. Includes archival documents about Santa Fe Indian School, boarding school records, and letters.

Links to select digital collections that relate to Indigenous communities of the Americas, as well as digitized content from the American Archive of Public Broadcasting.

Kappler's Indian Affairs is an historically significant, seven volume compilation of U.S. treaties, laws and executive orders pertaining to Native American Indian tribes. The volumes cover U.S. Government treaties with Native Americans from 1778-1883 (Volume II) and U.S. laws and executive orders concerning Native Americans from 1871-1970 (Volumes I, III-VII).

The missions of Alta California were founded for the purpose of Christianizing the American Indian population in those vicinities. The first of the Franciscan missions, San Diego de Alcala, was founded by Father Serra at a temporary location on July 16, 1769.

Serves as a "national digital platform and digital repository for boarding school archival collections throughout the United States."

Manuscripts, hand-drawn maps and published documents which relate to the Companies' efforts to acquire title to Indian lands during the period 1775 to 1823. These efforts culminated in the Supreme Court's landmark 1823 decision in Johnson v. M'Intosh divesting Native Americans of title to their lands.

Historical constitutions and legal materials digitized from the Law Library of Congress collection.

Texts of Native American religion, mythology and folklore. Part of the larger Sacred Texts site.

Offers digital views of Plains drawing on paper created during the 1860-1900 period.

Over 2,000 documents and images dating from 1730 to 1842 on the history of Native Americans in the Southeastern U.S., letters, legal proceedings, military orders, and more.

Text of treaties adopted between 1778 and 1868.

Includes "agreements between tribal nations and the United States (1778-1886) published in the 1904 work “Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties” (Volume II), compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler. As you view the treaties in this database, editorial margin notes are included. Links to Kappler’s original text and digitized treaties held at the National Archives can also be found throughout the site. Finally, a recently updated, comprehensive index complements this work."