LibGuides: American Indian and Indigenous Studies Research Guide: Primary Sources

American Indian Studies Librarian

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Subjects: Archives & Special Collections

What is a Primary Source?

Primary sources are records created by people who directly experienced an event. The types of records can vary widely, but all are first-hand accounts of the event. They may include correspondence, diaries, memoirs, newspapers articles, speeches, interviews, photographs, audio and video recordings, research data, and artifacts.

Primary sources are often found in archives, museums, libraries, historical societies, and other cultural heritage institutions.

Archives and Manuscript Collections in the Archives and Special Collections of Briggs Library

American Indian Studies Program Records (College of Arts & Science), 1992-2007

UA 6.18

This collection is composed mainly of material pertaining to the American Indian History Conference. Also included is a small amount of material dealing with the American Indian Studies Program.

0.42 Linear Feet

Descriptive guide available online: https://www.sdstate.edu/sdsu-archives-and-special-collections/american-indian-studies-program-records

Elizabeth Cook-Lynn Papers, 1932-2009

MA 42

This collection consists of biographical material about Cook-Lynn; correspondence; writings by Cook-Lynn including articles, books, editorials, essays, novels, novellas, poetry, and book reviews; material related to her teaching career as well as research project and other activities she was involved in; material related to the Wicazo Sa Review: a Journal of Native Studies for which she was editor; and material related to Native American issues and topics. 12 Linear Feet

Descriptive guide available online: https://www.sdstate.edu/sdsu-archives-and-special-collections/elizabeth-cook-lynn-papers

Native American Club Records, 1991-2007

UA 35.7

Collection is composed of programs, flyers, and posters for events sponsored or co-sponsored by the club. Also included are powwow viewers guides and information on the club. 0.21 Linear Feet

Descriptive guide available online: https://www.sdstate.edu/sdsu-archives-and-special-collections/native-american-club-records

Congressman Benjamin Reifel Papers, 1905-1990

MA 9

Benjamin Reifel was a Lakota Sioux and a Republican United States Congressman from the First District of South Dakota. This collection of his papers is composed of memorabilia, scrapbooks, campaign items, and personal items related to Reifel's career as a public servant, especially his years in the United States Senate and his work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The bulk of congressional material is memorabilia and scrapbooks and not records related to his term of office. Other materials are related chiefly to his post-congressional speaking career. 19.18 Linear Feet

Descriptive guide available online: https://www.sdstate.edu/sdsu-archives-and-special-collections/benjamin-reifel-papers

Digital collection: http://dlsd.sdln.net/cdm/landingpage/collection/reifel

Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve Papers, 1887-1999

MA 19

Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve is an American writer of Children's literature. She studied journalism at the South Dakota State University. She was an English language teacher in several public schools, editor at the Brevet Press in Sioux Fall, S.D. This collection is composed of manuscripts of books and articles written by Sneve, as well as research materials from the books and correspondence from both publishers and fans. General items related to Sneve's career and hard cover copies of many of her books are also included. 9.34 Linear Feet

Descriptive guide available online: https://www.sdstate.edu/sdsu-archives-and-special-collections/virginia-driving-hawk-sneve-papers

Harold W. Shunk Papers, 1911-1993

MA 3

Harold Shunk worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs as superintendent of the several Indian agencies in South Dakota. He was also active in many civic and fraternal organizations and served on the governing boards of several schools and universities. Shunk had a special interest in history, and in addition to his service to the South Dakota State Historical Society, he hosted radio and television programs in Rapid City. Composed of collected stories, publications, speeches and typewritten transcripts of Wahehe Heirship hearing. Also included are notebooks and manuscripts containing lists, definitions and transcriptions of many events related to Lakota history. Many stories told to Shunk when he was a United States Bureau of Indian Affairs agent are also rewritten in Shunk's own hand. 1.26 Linear Feet

Descriptive guide available online: https://www.sdstate.edu/sdsu-archives-and-special-collections/harold-w-shunk-papers

Iapi Oaye (Greenwood, S.D.) 1871-1939

Call Number: Archives 070 I26

Iapi Oaye, also known as The Word Carrier, is a Dakota language missionary newspaper first published in Greenwood, South Dakota and later published in Santee, Nebraska.

The South Dakota State University Archives and Special Collections has v.1-13 (1871-1884); new series v.1-4 (1884-1887), however Nov. 1883 and Apr.-May 1887 issues are not in this collection.

The Minnesota Historical Society has digitized and made the Iapi Oaye available online at: http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/hub/word-carrier

Dakota Tawaxitku Kin

Call Number: Archives 070 D3

Dakota Tawaxitku Kin, or The Dakota Friend, ran from 1850 – 1852 and was written in both Santee Dakota and English, making it one of the first Dakota language publications. The Dakota Mission organization printed the newspaper in St. Paul, MN. Gideon Pond, the newspaper’s editor, came to Minnesota with his brother Samuel to work as missionaries. The brothers helped to produce a written Dakota language alphabet and assembled the first Dakota-English dictionary. According to the publication’s mission statement, the newspaper aimed to share stories of interest to encourage reading among the Dakota people. It included local news, sports, language lessons, and treaty transcripts. After only 20 issues, the newspaper ended with the August 1852 Vol.2, No. 8. The Hilton M. Briggs Library does not have Vol. 1, No. 3-4.

Original copies can be seen the University Archives and Special Collections.

The South Dakota State University Archives and Special Collections has digitized the Dakota Tawaxitku Kin and made it available on the Digital Library of South Dakota.

Primary Sources in Databases

Indigenous Histories and Cultures
This collection provides historical and personal stories about early contact with European settlers and the political, social, and cultural effects of contact on American Indian life. Materials include treaties, speeches, diaries, artwork, rare printed books, newspaper articles, and photographs.
American Indian Movement and Native American Radicalism
Consists of documents from the FBI's files on the American Indian Movement, 1968-1979.
American Indian Newspapers
American Indian Newspapers includes digital files of 49 newspapers from a range of Native American communities in the United States and Canada from 1828 to 2016 (most of the coverage is from 1970-2016).
Included in the collection are national periodicals as well as local community news and student publications. The range of subjects from an Indigenous perspective, include the civil rights era and American Indian Movement (AIM), education, environmentalism, land rights and cultural representation.
Indigenous Peoples: North America
The database includes monograph, manuscript, newspaper, periodical and photograph collections.

North American Indian Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
North American Indian Thought and Culture brings together more than 100,000 pages, many of which are previously unpublished, rare, or hard to find. The project integrates autobiographies, biographies, Indian publications, oral histories, personal writings, photographs, drawings, and audio files for the first time. The result is a comprehensive representation of historical events as told by the individuals who lived through them

Primary Sources at other institutions

In addition to the sites listed on the Websites page of this guide, these sites offer primary source materials online.

American Indian Digital History Project
Consisting of rare Indigenous archival materials and newspapers from North America
American Indian Research Project (AIRP)
Housed in the South Dakota Oral History Center at the University of South Dakota, the AIRP contains over 2.300 oral history interviews with American Indians on the Northern Plains. Interviews in the collection are in English, Lakota, Dakota, and other languages.
Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History
The Anthropological Papers, published continuously since 1907, are monographic volumes that include some of the great ethnographies of the 20th century, particularly on North American Indians. Several illustrious anthropologists published their work in the Anthropological Papers, as well as many past and present curators of the AMNH Division of Anthropology.
~from the AMNH website
Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center
Student records, correspondence, graduation pamphlets, minutes, ledgers, reports, and cemetery records for the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, PA. Documents from the Archives & Special Collections, Waidner-Spahr Library, Dickinson College
Center for Western Studies
Primary source documents and artifacts relating to Augustana College, the Episcopal Diocese of South Dakota, South Dakota Conference of the United Church of Christ, and various other organizations and people. Most of these resources are not online but at Augustana College in Sioux Falls.
Digital Library of South Dakota
Collection of materials from the Regental Universities in South Dakota.
Ella Deloria Archive
The Ella Deloria Archive contains documents relating to the Dakota Indiaqns. It was created by the American Indian Studies Research Institute (AISRI) for the Dakota Indian Foundation.
Library of Congress: Curtis (Edward S.) Collection
More than 2,400 images taken by Edward S. Curtis for his The North American Indian. The images date from the late 19th century through the early 20th century.
Library of Congress: Grabill Collection
Images taken by John C.H. Grabill in the late 19th century of expansion of settlers into South Dakota and Wyoming. Some images were taken only days after the Wounded Knee Massacre.
Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History
The Memoirs, published at irregular intervals, but often out of chronological sequence, from 1893 until 1930, were monographic works focusing on scientific topics requiring exhaustive treatment. Henry Fairfield Osborn suggested the series in 1892. Ten volumes of the Memoirs comprise the results of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, which was led by Franz Boas and was the first landmark research project of the AMNH Division of Anthropology.
~ from the AMNH website
Minnesota Historical Society
National Archives - American Indian Records
National Archives - Indians/Native Americans
The page contains links to American history relating to Native Americans. It is provided by the National Archives.
National Archives: American Indian Treaties
National Archives: Bureau of Indian Affairs Records
Newberry Library's American Indian and Indigenous Studies Collection
The Edward E. Ayer Collection contains over 17,000 items and the Ayer endowment allowed the library to acquire 130,000 volumes, over 1 million manuscript pages, 2,000 maps, 500 atlases, 11,000 photographs, and 3,500 drawings and paintings.
Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian
Website of the National Museum of the American Indian.
South Dakota Historical Society
This site includes both the South Dakota State Archives and Museum. Both of these institutions have many primary sources useful to historians.
University of South Dakota, Archives and Special Collections
The Chilson Collection inparticular may be of interest.

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American Indian and Indigenous Studies Research Guide: Primary Sources