In Washington, DC. Offers a variety of resources about American Indian history including workshops for teachers. A diverse and multifaceted cultural and educational enterprise, the Museum is an active and visible component of the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum complex. The NMAI cares for one of the world's most expansive collections of Native artifacts, including objects, photographs, archives, and media covering the entire Western Hemisphere, from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego.
Organized from pre-school through high school and college.
“Many of us here – as Native Americans, avid readers, activists for improving Native American economies and communities, and as direct participants in the Native American experience – believe that we are uniquely positioned to suggest this reading list,” said First Nations President & CEO Michael Roberts. “We attempted to include many facets of the Native American experience, as well as books and research reports that would be of interest to a broad variety of readers.”
Created by Naomi Bishop, Summer 2018. An affiliate of the American Library Association (ALA), the American Indian Library Association is a membership action group that addresses the library-related needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives. Members are individuals and institutions interested in the development of programs to improve Indian library, cultural, and informational services in school, public, and research libraries on reservations. AILA is also committed to disseminating information about Indian cultures, languages, values, and information needs to the library community.
“Are you interested in learning about Native American histories? Are you someone with questions or information to share? Are you a teacher looking for curriculum ideas or other resources? We believe that teaching Native American histories in a positive way requires both specific, local knowledge and a broad understanding of how colonization manifests across time and space in the Americas and around the world. This project began with a focus on New England tribes, but we welcome information and resources about Indigenous Peoples in other places.”
Connects teachers and students to primary and secondary sources as well as questions and activities so they can deepen their understanding of the brutal and disturbing history of settler colonialism, its impact on Native peoples, and the healing that can accompany a truth and reconciliation commission.
The Law Library collects and preserves primary law sources of Indigenous nations, which are sovereign governments by treaty with the United States. At the time this collection started, there are 578 tribes and 92 agencies. This archive includes constitutions of a number of sovereign nations, including Navajo Nation, Muscogee Nation, Cherokee Nation, Comanche Nation, Hopi Tribe, etc. and ordinances, Supreme Court papers, court rules and forms for criminal, civil and family courts, and wellness courts.
The Curtis collection consists of more than 2,400 silver-gelatin, first generation photographic prints made from Curtis's original glass negatives. Most of the photographic prints are 5" x 7" although nearly one hundred are 11" x 14" and larger; many include the Curtis file or negative number within the image at the lower left-hand corner.
Images from each of the geo-cultural regions documented in The North American Indian are represented in the collection: the Pacific Northwest, New Southwest, Great Basin, Great Plains, Plateau Region, California, and Alaska. Included are both studio and field photographs. A large number are individual or group portraits, and many subjects are identified by name. Other subjects include traditional and ceremonial dress, dwellings and other structures, agriculture, arts and crafts, rites and ceremonies, dances, games, food preparation, transportation, and scenery.
The Land Grab CT project was inspired by the Land Grab U project, which extensively collected and mapped land data tied to land-grant universities and the 1862 Morrill Act. Land Grab CT is a localization of the data from this project, as well as an expansion of understanding land-grant institutions in a larger colonial context.
A photography collective looking at the evolution of Native American identity, rights, and representation.
omposed of photo essays, a digital Library of Native Photographers from the mid-1800s to the Present, and texts, the collective provides a narrative of Native empowerment while recognizing the devastating effects of colonization.
“When Christopher Columbus arrived on the Bahamian Island of Guanahani (San Salvador)
in 1492, he encountered the Taíno people, whom he described in letters as "naked as the day they
were born.The Taíno had complex hierarchical religious, political, and social systems. Skilled farmers and navigators, they wrote music and poetry and created powerfully expressive objects.
At the time of Columbus’s exploration, the Taíno were the most numerous indigenous people of
the Caribbean and inhabited what are now Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. By 1550, the Taíno were close to extinction, many having succumbed to diseases brought by the Spaniards. Taíno influences survived, however, and today appear in the beliefs, religions, language, and music of Caribbean cultures.”
Like many European explorers, Christopher Columbus encountered Indigenous people throughout his voyages. There are three main sources of controversy involving his interactions with the Indigenous people he labeled “Indians”: the use of violence and slavery, the forced conversion of native peoples to Christianity and the introduction of a host of new diseases that would have dramatic long-term effects on native people in the Americas.
