American Indian Histories and Cultures: Sources from the Newberry Library

Providing access to material from the Newberry Library’s extraordinary Edward E. Ayer collection, this database spans four centuries and covers North and Central America.  Material provides unique insight into interactions between American Indians and Europeans from their earliest contact, continuing through the turbulence of the American Civil War, the ongoing repercussions of government legislation, right up to the civil rights movement of the mid-twentieth century.

The database includes:

• Original artwork depicting American Indian life by early artists and explorers such as Karl Bodmer, Jean-Frédéric Waldeck, George Catlin, Elbridge Ayer Burbank and Seth Eastman
• American Indian newspapers from the 1960s-1990s documenting contemporary topics such as civil rights and the Red Power movement, the occupation of Alcatraz and environmental issues
• Modern manuscript collections including the Bureau of Indian Affairs relocation records (1936-1975)
• An original copy of The Red Man’s Greeting (1893), written on birch bark by Potawatomi Indian Simon Pokagon

Related resources include American Indian Newspapers in Ethnic NewsWatch and American Indian Newspapers, information about early American Indian-European relations in American History, Colonial America, American West, and Frontier Life, and assorted primary sources in Indigenous Peoples: North America.