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Native American History and Culture

This guide provides links to the most useful databases, electronic and print resources for researching the history and culture of Native Americans including Native American authors and artists.

Select Journals @ ND

American Indian Quarterly (AIQ)
This journal is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal of the anthropology, history, literature, and arts of Native North Americans. The AIQ charts and incites debate about the latest developments in method and theory and is wide-ranging in its coverage of issues and topics.
Journal of American Indian Education
Founded in 1961, this journal publishes papers directly related to the education of American Indian/Alaska Natives and scholarship on educational issues related to Native Peoples of the world, including First Nations (Aboriginal People of Canada), Native Hawaiian, Maori, Indigenous Peoples of Latin American and others. It is published three times a year: fall, winter and spring by the Center for Indian Education of the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University.
Studies in American Indian Literature
Also available via the Association for the Study of American Indian Literatures (ASAIL) web site.
Tribal Law Journal
This journal provides native peoples, practitioners, and law students an opportunity to contribute their work to the discussion relating to internal indigenous law.
Wicazo Sa Review
Founded in 1985, this is the source for new thought in Native American studies. Covers topics on Native American populations in the United States define the cultural, religious, legal, and historical parameters of scholarship and creativity essential for survival in the modern world.

Searching for Articles

Academic Search Complete (1975 to date) 
Access to scholarly full-text books and journal articles from a wide range of academic areas, including Arts, Economics, Education, Humanities, Law, Medicine, Science and Technology, Social Sciences and more.
American History and Life (1954 to date) 
This database provides access to the citations of articles (and in some cases, the full text of articles), book reviews, and dissertations in American and Canadian history. Access to select indexing published as far back as 1954 and coverage for some titles back to the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Ethnic NewsWatch (Proquest) (1960 to date) 
An interdisciplinary, bilingual (English and Spanish) and comprehensive full text database of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press. Offer additional viewpoints from those preferred by the mainstream press.
ERIC (1966 to date) 
ERIC is considered to be the primary database for education literature. It is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education.

JSTOR (Dates vary)
Searchable database of the full text of journals covering a wide array of academic topics. Due to embargoes from publishers, the most recent issues available in JSTOR will normally be 4-5 years old.

Search tip: When searching, remember that the indigenous peoples of the Americas have only been called "Native Americans" for the last 40 years. Articles from before this time period will refer to "Indians" or "American Indians" or "Native American Indians".

Periodicals Archive Online (1770-1995) 
An interdisciplinary digital archive of hundreds of full text journals published in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

Project Muse (Dates vary) 
Provides access to full-text versions of scholarly journals from many of the world's leading university presses and scholarly societies.

Search tip: Try standard LC subject headings in addition to keywords when searching.

Google Scholar Search
Akwesasne notes. (Cornwall Island Reserve, Rooseveltown, N.Y.) Online access ProQuest Ethnic NewsWatch Archive.
Indian Record (Bureau of Indian Affairs) Also available online via HathiTrust.
News from Indian country : the journal (Hayward, Wis.: Indian Country Communications, Inc.) Online access ProQuest Ethnic NewsWatch Archive and ProQuest Ethnic NewsWatch.
Tribal Observer. (Mt. Pleasant, MI : Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.)
American Indian periodicals in the Princeton University Library. (Princeton, N.J.)

Key Search Terms & Secondary Resources

Good guides to secondary sources on “Indians of North America”

Online access available for all resources listed. Click for access. See Recommended key search terms.

Gale Virtual Reference Library
Oxford reference online