Finding Materials for Indigenous Peoples Studies

Researchers can find a variety of primary and secondary sources documenting Indigenous Peoples' experiences through 1900 in North America. The following guide is intended to serve as a starting point for your research.

Finding Primary Sources

 The General Catalog uses local (i.e., just used at AAS) genre/form terms to make findable hundreds of works produced by Indigenous Peoples before 1900. Researchers can use the following terms:

• Works by Indigenous authors
• Works by Indigenous illustrators
• Works by Indigenous newspaper editors
• Works by Indigenous people in the printing and publishing trades
• Works by Indigenous periodical editors

See the complete list of language search links to access all non-English texts in the  General Catalog. Indigenous language texts available in the collection include the following:

• Printed in Algonquian (Other)
• Printed in Cherokee
• Printed in Choctaw
• Printed in Cree
• Printed in Dakota
• Printed in Hawaiian
• Printed in Iroquoian (Other)
• Massachuset language
• Printed in Micmac
• Printed in Mohawk
• Printed in Ojibwa

Library of Congress subject headings used by AAS include: 

• Indians of North America

If you don't find what you are looking for please email our staff at reference [at] mwa.org (reference[at]mwa[dot]org).

Digital Collections and Projects

The following AAS digital collections are freely available from anywhere. 

• Reclaiming Heritage: Digitizing Early Nipmuc Histories from Colonial Documents
• From English to Algonquian: Early New England Translations
• Hawaiian Engravings
• Photographs of Indigenous Peoples 

The following project websites are freely available from anywhere.

• Our Beloved Kin: Remapping A New History of King Philip's War

The following videos are freely available from anywhere.

• Pakachoag - Where the River Bends (Fall 2020)

The following digital collections are available to researchers who are present at AAS and signed on to AAS networks. Publishers provide separate tools for searching their collections.  Some feature materials not held at AAS.

• American Historical Periodicals (Gale)
• America's Historical Newspapers (Readex)
   

Internship Opportunity

Nipmuc Community Internship was established in 2022 to offer young tribal members pathways to library work and the opportunity to learn about archival and historic preservation. The internship can be full or part-time, for anywhere between three to nine months. 

Recorded Programs

The series Insights from Indigenous Studies features presentations most of which resulted from research completed in the AAS collection.

Fellowship Opportunities

The American Antiquarian Society awards over forty-five fellowships annually. Fellowships are offered for postdoctoral academics,  advanced graduate students, independent scholars, as well as for creative and performing artists and writers.