All Guides: AMST 225/HIST 225 American Indian History to 1871: Primary Sources

What are primary sources?

Primary sources are documents that were recorded or written down at the time an event occurred. Primary sources can include diaries, letters, speeches, photographs, newspaper articles, government documents, and much more.

To find primary sources that are part of materials owned at Macalester, you can use a keyword search in the library catalog adding selected terminology such as archives, correspondence, diaries, manuscripts, personal narratives, personnel records, or other phrases such as "records and correspondence," or "notebooks, sketchbooks, etc."

Primary Source Collections

Open Access Online Collections and Finding Aids

IDA [Indigenous Digital Archive] Treaties Explorer
While treaties between Indigenous peoples and the United States affect virtually every area in the USA, there is as yet no official list of all the treaties. The US National Archives holds 374 of the treaties, where they are known as the Ratified Indian Treaties. Here you can view them with key historic works that provide context to the agreements made and the histories of our shared lands.
American Indians of the Pacific Northwest Collection "an extensive digital collection of original photographs and documents about the Northwest Coast and Plateau Indian cultures, complemented by essays written by anthropologists, historians, and teachers about both particular tribes and cross-cultural topics."
David Rumsey Historical Map collection The collection includes rare 16th through 21st century maps of America, North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Pacific, Arctic, Antarctic, and the World.
Digital Newberry Digital collections of the Newberry Library.
Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties (Oklahoma State Libraries) Seven volume compilation contains 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).
Primary Sources (Michigan State University Native American Guide) Links to several primary source collections organized as part of the research guide for Native American studies at MSU. Not all materials are available to non-MSU students. Please ask your librarian about alternative access methods in these instances.
Yale Indian Papers Project The Native Northeast Portal is a scholarly critical edition of primary source materials about Native communities from the American Northeast gathered into one robust virtual collection.

AM Explorer This link opens in a new window
A single access point for Adam Matthew collections. Search unique primary source content covering the 15th - 21st centuries. Includes themes like; Borders and Migrations, Gender and Sexuality, Global History, and War and Conflict.

Newspapers

America's Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Early American Newspapers from 1690-1922 and African American Newspapers from 1827-1998.

American Indian Histories and Cultures
Explore manuscripts, artwork and rare printed books dating from the earliest contact with European settlers right up to photographs and newspapers from the mid-twentieth century. Browse through a wide range of rare and original documents from treaties, speeches and diaries, to historic maps and travel journals. --Website

Access World News: Research Collection This link opens in a new window
International, national, regional, state, and local newspaper articles and video clips. Includes over a thousand international news sources from scores of countries on six continents, translated into English when written in other languages.
New York Times Archive This link opens in a new window
Searchable full text of the New York Times from the first issue in 1851 to 4 years ago. Includes full page and article images. Most recent years of the Times can be searched in US Newsstream or New York Times - Digital Microfilm.

The Carolina Indian Voice
Archive of the Carolina Indian Voice, a Native American newspaper published in Pembroke, North Carolina. Coverage begins in 1977 and continues through the mid-2000s.