Primary sources for historical research: Native American history

This guide lists important collections of primary sources on Native American history held by the Princeton University Library. It covers microform, print and digital collections. Microforms listed in this guide are housed in Firestone Library Microforms Service on C floor. Printed guides to these collections are usually also housed in Microforms Service and have call numbers beginning "FilmB." A few collections held by Princeton Theological Seminary or by the Center for Research Libraries are also listed in this guide. Please consult a librarian for help if you would like to use these collections. For further information, please see Guides to primary sources for historical research: introduction.

Table of Contents

• Native American history collections
  • Before 1900
  • 20th century
• American Indian periodicals
• Selected Western Americana collections
  • Western Americana Collection Index
• Background and other resources

Native American history collections

Before 1900

20th century

American Indian periodicals

Princeton holds a large collection of Native American periodicals, primarily from the 1960s and 1970s. There is a list by title at http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_materials/western_americana/Finding_Aids/ Am_Indian_Periodicals.pdf and they can also be found by searching the Main Catalog for "American Indian periodicals in the Princeton University Library" as Title.

To identify additional Native American periodicals, consult:

• American Indian and Alaska native newspapers and periodicals. Daniel F. Littlefield, Jr. and James W. Parins. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, c1983-
  Firestone Library (F) PN4883 .L57 1983

• American Indian periodicals on microform from the Princeton University Library, the Huntington Free Library (Museum of the American Indian), the Newberry Library, the Smithsonian Institution, the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. New York: Clearwater, [1982?]
  Rare Books: Western Americana Collection (WA) Z1209.2.U5 A43
• Index to Wisconsin native American periodicals, 1897-1981 [microform]
  Firestone Microforms, Microfiche 810

• American Indian periodicals on microform: a guide to holdings in the Labriola National American Indian Data Center, Arizona State University. Vicky Kalambakal. Tempe, Ariz.: The Center, [2002]
  Rare Books: Western Americana Collection (WA) Oversize 2004-0609Q

Selected Western Americana collections

Background and other resources

• Bibliography of Native North Americans
  The most important index to current scholarly work in this field. Citations to books, journal articles, essays, conference papers, and government documents.
  
• Cambridge history of the native peoples of the Americas. Volume 1: North America. Edited by Bruce G. Trigger, Wilcomb E. Washburn. Cambridge, England ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
  Firestone E77 .N62 1996
  Note: there are also volumes for Mesoamerica (F1219 .M67 2000) and South America (F2229 .S687 1999).
• A companion to American Indian history [electronic resource]. Edited by Philip Deloria & Neal Salisbury. Oxford : Blackwell, 2004. http://www.blackwellreference.com/subscriber/book?id=g9781405121316_9781405121316
• Guide to records in the National Archives of the United States relating to American Indians. Compiled by Edward E. Hill. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, 1981 [i.e. 1982] Firestone Library (F) Z1209.2.U5 H54 1982
  A thorough description of primary sources for Native American history in the National Archives. Arranged by government agency, this guide provides exceptionally good information about the context in which the records were produced and the agencies themselves. Also indicates which records are available in microform or print.

Some microform collections not owned by Princeton but possibly available through ILL:

• Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Part 1, Central classified files, 1907-1939 (148 reels)
• Records of the Indian Division, Office of the Secretary of the Interior, special files, 1848-1907 (13 reels)
• Indian removal to the West, 1832-1840 files of the Office of the Commissary General of Subsistence (19 reels)
• Records of the National Council on Indian Opportunity, 1968-1974 (115 reels)
• The Rupert Costo Archive of the American Indian filmed from the holdings of the Rupert Costo Library of the American Indian in the Department of Special Collections at the University of California at Riverside (63 reels)
• Ratified Indian treaties, 1722-1869 (16 reels)
• Documents relating to the negotiation of ratified and unratified treaties with various tribes of Indians, 1801-69 (10 reels)
• Indian Rights Association papers, 1868-1968 (136 reels)
• Letters sent to the Office of Indian Affairs by the agents or superintendents at the Pine Ridge Agency, 1875-1914 (52 reels)
• Records of the Creek Factory of the Office of Indian Trade of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1795-1821 (13 reels)