LEO: American Indian Studies: Digital Special Collections

Digital Materials

These are digital projects created by libraries and universities that focus on American Indian history, law, and culture. Many include original letters, photographs, legal documents, and other primary source materials. Others are reference works that provide general background information.

USAO--Dr. Anna Lewis Collection
Dr. Anna Lewis, of Choctaw descent, taught history at the Oklahoma College for Women from 1917-1956. Throughout her distinguished career, she taught thousands of students, authored two books and numerous articles, collected photographs and rare documents, and asked her students to contribute original items to a planned museum of Oklahoma history on the college campus. The museum never materialized but many of the items were given to the College upon Dr. Lewis' retirement. This web site, generously funded by the Oklahoma Humanities Council, creates a virtual museum of the items collected for the museum as well as items about Dr. Lewis.
Oklahoma Historical Society--Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture
This encyclopedia includes many articles related to Native Americans in Oklahoma. Each article also includes a bibliography of sources from which the article's contents were drawn. If you are interested in a topic you find in this encyclopedia, the sources in the bibliography can be a good place to start your research.
Oklahoma State University--Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties
Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties is a seven-volume compilation by Charles J. Kappler of U.S. treaties, laws, and executive orders relating to American Indians. It includes materials dating from 1778 to 1971. The volumes have been digitized by OSU.
Oklahoma State University--Indian Claims Commission Decisions
The Indian Claims Commission Decisions is a 43-volume series that has been digitized by OSU.
Oklahoma State University--Oklahoma Native Artists Oral History Project
This is an audio and video collection of interviews with Oklahoma Native American artists, collectors, and gallery owners. The interviews focus on the artists' lives and works and the political and economic aspects of Native American art.
University of Oklahoma--Doris Duke Collection
This digital collection includes transcripts from interviews conducted between 1967 and 1972 with hundreds of American Indians in Oklahoma. The interviews focus on the histories and cultures of their respective tribes. The collection includes interviews with members of every tribe in Oklahoma.
University of Oklahoma--Indian Pioneer Papers
This is a collection of oral history transcripts ranging from 1861 to 1936. Includes thousands of interviews from the 1930s conducted by government workers with Oklahomans regarding the settlement of Oklahoma and Indian territories as well as life in the region.
University of Oklahoma--Native American Manuscripts
This collection, organized by tribe, includes digitized letters, documents, journals, and other materials by Native Americans. Some materials have not been digitized, but the physical copies are in OU Special Collections. For these items, the site includes finding aids that show where the materials can be found in OU Special Collections.
Oklahoma Department of Libraries--Native American Materials in Oklahoma's Federal Depository Libraries
This is a guide to the locations of government documents, legal materials, newspapers, and historical documents in Oklahoma libraries that relate to Native American life. It does not include the documents themselves; however, it could be helpful if you are interested in a document and want to determine where you may find a copy of it.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Early Recognized Treaties with American Indian Nations
This site includes nine treaties dating from 1722 to 1805 that are not included in Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties.
Northwestern University--Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian
From 1907 to 1930, Edward S. Curtis published the 20-volume series The North American Indian, which was intended to document native cultures through text and photographs. Northwestern University has digitized their complete set of volumes. According to the project's "About the Site" page, "The images and descriptions reflect the prevailing Euro-American cultural perspective of Curtis’s time, that Indians were 'primitive' people whose traditions represented a 'vanishing race.' Contemporary readers should view the work in that context."
University of Washington--American Indians of the Pacific Northwest Collection
This collection includes thousands of photographs and documents concerning Native American cultures in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. It also includes topical essays and study questions that K-12 educators may use to create lesson plans.

Evaluating Online Information

The resources listed here are all available online without a subscription. In the course of your research, you may find other sites on related topics. Here are some things to consider when evaluating whether the information you find is credible.

1. Authority--Who created the site/content? What expertise do they have in the topic?

2. Objectivity--What is the purpose of the site/content (an "About" page can help determine this)? Does it present any bias toward the topic?

3. Accuracy--How does the information correspond to what you already know about the topic? Are sourced cited, and are they reliable?

4. Currency--When was the page created, and when was it last updated?