CUL 207 - Intro to American Indian Literature: Online Resources

A diverse and multifaceted cultural and educational enterprise, the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is an active and visible component of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum complex. The NMAI cares for one of the world's most expansive collections of Native artifacts, including objects, photographs, archives, and media covering the entire Western Hemisphere, from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego.

The National Museum of the American Indian operates three facilities. The museum on the National Mall in Washington, DC, offers exhibition galleries and spaces for performances, lectures and symposia, research, and education. The George Gustav Heye Center (GGHC) in New York City houses exhibitions, research, educational activities, and performing arts programs. The Cultural Resources Center (CRC) in Suitland, Maryland, houses the museum's collections as well as the conservation, repatriation, and digital imaging programs, and research facilities. The NMAI's off-site outreach efforts, often referred to as the "fourth museum," include websites, traveling exhibitions, and community programs.

Since the passage of its enabling legislation in 1989 (amended in 1996), the NMAI has been steadfastly committed to bringing Native voices to what the museum writes and presents, whether on-site at one of the three NMAI venues, through the museum's publications, or via the Internet. The NMAI is also dedicated to acting as a resource for the hemisphere's Native communities and to serving the greater public as an honest and thoughtful conduit to Native cultures—present and past—in all their richness, depth, and diversity.

The collections of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Sequoyah National Research Center constitute the largest assemblage of Native American expression in the world. Our mission, to acquire and preserve the writings and ideas of Native North Americans, is accomplished through collecting the written word and art of Native Americans and creating a research atmosphere that invites indigenous peoples to make the Center an archival home for their creative work.

The Collection of Native American Literature represents some of the earliest published writing by Native authors from the 18th century up to literature published today. The initial acquisition came to Amherst College in 2013 after a generous gift from alumna Younghee Kim-Wait (AC 1982) supported the purchase of a collection of 1,400 Native-authored books assembled by private collector Pablo Eisenberg. As of 2022, an additional 1,700 books and other published works have been added to the collection, expanding both the chronological and intellectual scope of Native writing represented at Amherst.

The collection includes fiction, poetry, history, philosophy, Indigenous-language texts, anthropological works, photography, activist manifestos, comics, books for children, printed ephemera, and a wide range of texts which highlight the literary traditions of Indigenous communities across the continent. Sermons, speeches, and memoirs are also well represented, including some of the earliest published works by Native authors such as Samson Occom (Mohegan), William Apess (Pequot), and Elias Boudinot (Cherokee).

Materials from the Northeast are well-represented in the collection including literature from the Nipmuc, Wampanoag, Mohegan, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot nations, as well as the Six Nations (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora).

The collection includes the early and hard-to-find books by such writers as Mourning Dove (Okanagan/Colville), Zitkala Sa (Yankton Dakota), D'Arcy McNickle (Cree-Métis), Ella Deloria (Yankton Dakota), Charles Eastman (Santee Dakota) and Pauline Johnson (Mohawk), dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as scarce books by a later generation of writers such as Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo), Linda Hogan (Chickasaw), Gerald Vizenor (Chippewa), Maurice Kenny (Mohawk) and Joy Harjo (Muscogee (Creek)), whose early works were published in tiny quantities by small presses, or sometimes self-published, and which are virtually impossible to obtain.

This guide is a compilation of many of the resources on the Indians of North America available at the Library of Congress as well as selected resources outside the Library. They are organized by format. The purpose of this guide is to present researchers with selected sources through which they can begin and expand their scope of study of the Indians of North America. It is not meant to serve as an exhaustive source for Indians of North America sources accessible through the Library of Congress.

Circle of Stories uses documentary film, photography, artwork and music to honor and explore Native American storytelling.

The Carlisle Indian Industrial School is a major site of memory for many Native peoples, as well as a source of study for students and scholars around the globe. This website represents an effort to aid the research process by bringing together, in digital format, a variety of resources that are physically preserved in various locations around the country. Through these resources, we seek to increase knowledge and understanding of the school and its complex legacy, while also facilitating efforts to tell the stories of the many thousands of students who were sent there.

This page is our collection of Native American folktales and traditional stories that can be read online. We have indexed these stories tribe by tribe to make them easier to locate; however, variants on the same native legend are often told by American Indians from different tribes, especially if those tribes are kinfolk or neighbors to each other.

A to Z index of select Native American authors.

List of select Native authors and works.

Less than 2 percent of children’s books published in the United States depict characters from Native, First Nations, and Indigenous communities, according to the 2019 statistics compiled by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin. But the needle is moving. Every year, more stories are published by Native writers and illustrators, reflecting their cultures, Nations, and lived experiences, which is why we created Indigenous Reads Rising—to provide a resource where teachers, librarians, and readers can embrace these books.

While this site was founded with teachers and librarians in mind, every reader is welcome to explore our resources and book lists. Indigenous Reads Rising includes a variety of best practices articles and where to find more books by Native authors and illustrators, as well as extensive book lists organized by age category and topic. We also provide resources for Native writers and illustrators interested in honing their craft and applying for grants and mentorships.

Indigenous Reads Rising is managed by the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books.