Journals and Databases
- Academic Search Ultimate This link opens in a new windowLook here for scholarly and popular articles about American Indian topics in a variety of areas: education, health, sovereignty and rights, culture and identity, and more.
- Ethnic Diversity Source This link opens in a new window
Covering the culture, traditions, social treatment and lived experiences of different ethnic groups in America.
- Hein Online This link opens in a new windowSelect: Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: History, Culture & Law
Indigenous American life and law, this library includes an expansive archive of treaties, federal statutes and regulations, federal case law, tribal codes, constitutions, and jurisprudence. - US Newsstream This link opens in a new window
Prominent U.S. papers like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. It's also a good place to look for Star Tribune articles, with archives from 1986. Use the advanced search tab to limit to particular titles or dates.
Can't find full text?
Click the 
button by the article to get it elsewhere, or to order it.
- American Indian Culture and Research JournalThe American Indian Culture and Research Journal, the premiere journal in Native American studies, publishes book reviews, literature, and original scholarly papers on a wide range of issues in the fields of history, anthropology, geography, sociology, political science, health, literature, law, education, and the arts. Access journals from 1974-present by selecting the "Issues" menu.
- American Indian QuarterlyA refereed interdisciplinary journal of the history, anthropology, literature and the arts of Native American Indians, book reviews and lists of recently published books.
- Journal of American Indian StudiesThe Journal of American Indian Education (JAIE) is a refereed journal publishing original scholarship directly related to the education of American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Indigenous peoples worldwide, including Inuit, Métis, and First Nations of Canada, Māori, Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander peoples, Indigenous peoples of Latin America, Africa, and others. JAIE strives to improve Indigenous education through empirical research, knowledge generation, and transmission to researchers, communities, classrooms, and diverse educational settings.
- Tribal College Journal of American Indian higher education (online) by American Indian Higher Education ConsortiumTribal College Journal's articles are read across multiple platforms, sharing Indigenous perspectives and the success of the tribal college movement.
- Wicazo Sa ReviewWicazo Sa Review is an interdisciplinary journal devoted to the mission of assisting Indigenous peoples of the Americas in taking possession of their own intellectual and creative pursuits.
- Cultural Survival News and ArticlesCultural Survival advocates for Indigenous Peoples' rights and supports Indigenous communities’ self-determination, cultures, and political resilience, since 1972.
Search Strategies
Many Terms Identify American Indians
When searching for articles and books, use different combinations of these terms to find the most sources:
- American Indian
- Native American
- Native People
- Indians of North America (the official term used in our catalog)
- First Nations (term for the indigenous peoples of Canada)
Search Many Variants at the Same Time
You can use quotations marks (" ") to hold the concepts together (so you don't get "Indian Americans" instead), and use OR to find articles that match any of the various terms. For example, create a search like:
"American Indian" OR "Native American"
In the next boxes put your topic keywords: culture, identity, treaties, education, etc.
Also consider adding locations of interest, such as Great Plains or Minnesota.
Tribe Name Variations
Variant Spellings for Ojibwa
- Ojibway
- Ojibwe
- Ojibwah
- Chippewa
- Chippeway
- Chepeway
- Anishinabe
- ...and more.
Searching by tribe is also important, especially if your topic is tribe specific. As tribes often have variant spellings or use entirely different terms, account for this in your search:
Ojibwa or Chippewa or Anishinabe
Using an asterisk * will truncate, or stem, your keyword, including everything after it:
- Ojibw* captures Ojibway, Ojibwe, and Ojibwah
- Chippewa* captures Chippewa and Chippeway
Websites
- Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, & MuseumsATALM is an international non-profit organization that maintains a network of support for Indigenous programs, provides culturally relevant programming and services, encourages collaboration among tribal and non-tribal cultural institutions, and articulates contemporary issues related to developing and sustaining the cultural sovereignty of Native Nations. They curate a map-based directory of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums.
- Top Native American Organizations to KnowA curated a list of key organizations serving the Native American community.
- National Tribal Organizations and PartnersList curated by The National Native Children's Trauma Center.
- NCAI - National Congress of American IndiansNCAI is a non-profit organization, the oldest, largest, and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization serving the broad interests of tribal governments and communities. Their publicly available resources include a Tribal Directory and digitally available library of NCAI resolutions and newsletters.
- The National Native American Boarding School Healing CoalitionNABS was created to develop and implement a national strategy that increases public awareness and cultivates healing for the profound trauma experienced by individuals, families, communities, American Indian and Alaska Native Nations resulting from the U.S. adoption and implementation of the Boarding School Policy of 1869.
- Democracy Now!Democracy Now!’s War and Peace Report provides our audience with access to people and perspectives rarely heard in the U.S.corporate-sponsored media, including independent and international journalists, ordinary people from around the world who are directly affected by U.S. foreign policy, grassroots leaders and peace activists, artists, academics and independent analysts.
- First Peoples WorldwideIndigenous communities know their land, their people, their problems, and their solutions. First Peoples Worldwide is at the center of a global network of talented and passionate Indigenous practitioners, amplifying the voices of Indigenous Peoples by providing funding and advocacy, and helping connect communities to the resources they need to thrive.
- Indian Country Today Media NetworkIndian Country Media Network is owned by the Oneida Indian Nation of New York.
- Indigenous Environmental NetworkEstablished in 1990 within the United States, IEN was formed by grassroots Indigenous peoples and individuals to address environmental and economic justice issues (EJ). IEN’s activities include building the capacity of indigenous communities and tribal governments to develop mechanisms to protect our sacred sites, land, water, air, natural resources, health of both our people and all living things, and to build economically sustainable communities.
- Indigenous Movements in Latin AmericaArticle written by Marc Becker, Professor of History, Department of History, Truman State University, Kirksville, Missouri.
- Land Portal - OrganizationsThe Land Portal is a non-for-profit organization based in the Netherlands. It works to create, curate and disseminate land governance data and information. Supporting the efforts of the rural poor to gain equitable access to land by addressing the fragmentation of information resources.
Books
The books below are useful for starting your research, whether getting topic ideas or finding general overviews.
Earth Politics by Call Number: e-bookISBN: 0822356171Publication Date: 2014-02-28"Earth Politics focuses on the lives of four indigenous activist-intellectuals in Bolivia, key leaders in the Alcaldes Mayores Particulares (AMP), a movement established to claim rights for indigenous education and reclaim indigenous lands from hacienda owners.
Encyclopedia of Native Tribes of North America by Call Number: Reference E76.2 .J64 2007Covering the tribes of twelve distinct regions, this book contains several color illustrations depicting notable American Indians, maps, art, clothing, ceremonies, and more.
Indigenous Movements, Self-Representation, and the State in Latin America by Call Number: e-bookISBN: 9780292791411Publication Date: 2003-01-01This volume's case studies of movements in Colombia, Guatemala, and Brazil weigh the degree of success achieved by indigenous leaders in influencing national agendas when governments display highly ambivalent attitudes about strengthening ethnic diversity
Encyclopedia of the Great Plains Indians by Call Number: E78.G73 E53 2007ISBN: 9780803298620Publication Date: 2007-03-01The Encyclopedia of the Great Plains Indians offers a sweeping overview, across time and space, of this story in 123 entries drawn from the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, together with 23 new entries focusing on contemporary Plains Indians, and many new photographs.
