Primary Sources
In humanities disciplines like history and literature, a primary source is an item produced from the time you are researching (e.g., photographs, a letters, newspaper articles, government documents). Looking at actual sources from a specific time helps you get a firsthand account of what was happening then.
In the sciences and social sciences, research data and original research studies are also considered primary sources.
Secondary sources provide analysis of primary sources (e.g., scholarly articles and books).
Subcollections in Primary Source Databases
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- History Vault: American Indians and the American West, 1809-1971) (Primary Sources - Proquest)Collections from the U.S. National Archives and the Chicago History Museum, as well as first-hand accounts on Indian Wars and westward migration
- Indian Claims Insight (Primary Sources - Proquest)Legal histories and documents related to Indian claims and compiled histories for Indian Nation/Tribes
- North American Indian Thought and Culture (Primary Sources - Proquest)Primary source materials representing historical moments as experienced by those who lived through them
- North American Indian Drama (Primary Sources - Proquest)Plays by 48 American Indian and First Nation playwrights from the twentieth century. Over half of these works are rare or previously unpublished.
- Indigenous Newspapers in North America (AM Explorer)Two centuries of indigenous print journalism from the US and Canada
- Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America(AM Explorer)Primary source materials dating from the earliest contact with European settlers to the mid-twentieth century
- Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new windowNews, magazine, and journal articles from the ethnic, minority and native press.
- HeinOnline This link opens in a new windowComprehensive coverage of more than 2,000 journals and the Congressional Record.
Digital Collections
- American Indians of the Pacific Northwest CollectionPhotographs, documents, and maps about the Northwest Coast and Plateau Indian cultures and related essays by anthropologists, histories, and teachers. From the University of Washington.
- Archives Library Information Center: Native Americans (National Archives)Includes digital collections, genealogical resources, laws and treaties, and more.
- Association on American Indian Affairs Records, 1851-2016 (mostly 1922-1995)Physical and digitized materials available from Princeton University. Select "Only show materials containing online content" to limit to digitized materials.
- Chief George Manuel Memorial Indigenous LibraryContains documents, reports, and publications from indigenous nations in North America and the world. Established in 1979 as a document repository, in response to a resolution of the Conference of Tribal Governments.
- Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers - Indians of North AmericaA project of the National Endowmen for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
- Duke Collection of American Indian Oral HistoryTypescripts of interviews from 1967-1972 with Native Americans in Oklahoma
- Early Americas Digital ArchiveTexts written in or about the Americas from 1492 to 1820
- First Nations Collection, Southern Oregon Digital ArchivesDocuments, books, and artilces on the indigenous people of the region.
- Images of North AmericansIllustrations from rare books, magazines, newspapers, an ephemera; photographs; and other visual materials. Materials reflect European interpretations of Native Americans. From the University of California - Berkeley.
- Indigenous Studies Portal Research Tool (University of Saskatchewan)A database of full text primary and secondary sources focused primarily on Indigenous peoples of Canada and secondarily on North American materials.
- Native American and Indigenous History and Culture, Smithsonian InstituteSelected collections.
- Native American Heritage Month: Exhilbitions and CollectionsFeatured archival materials from the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Smithsonian Institute, and more.
- Native Voices: Native Peoples' Concepts of Health and IllnessIncludes exhibition materials, inteviews, and an historical timeline. From the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
- Oklahoma State University Library Digital CollectionsMany of OSU's digital collections concentrate on Native American history. Search the collections using terms like 'Native American.' (Note: Many of the Lenape people indigenous to New Jersey relocated to Oklahoma.)
- The Trail of Tears through ArkansasEyewitness accounts, letters, removal claim documents, and background information about the Trail of Tears through Arkansas. From the University of Arkansas - Little Rock.
- Treaties between the United States and Native Americans (The Avalon Project)From Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.
- Tribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State Univeristy Libraries)Includes agreements between tribal nations and the United States (1778-1886). A project of Oklahoma State University Library, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Department of the Interior.
- Tribal Writers Digital Library (Sequoyah National Research Center)Features out-of-print literary works of American Indians, Alaska natives, and First Nations people of Canada
Modern News Sources
- Indian Country TodayAn independent news source and public media broadcast serving Indigenous communities
Leni-Lenape Primary Sources: Colonial Narratives
William Penn's Own Account of the Lenni Lenape or Delaware Indians by
In 1683, ten months after his arrival in America, William Penn wrote this now-famous sketch of Lenni Lenape Society. An acute observer, he was interested in all facets of Indian culture, and his account ranges from descriptions of the Indians' daily lives through discussions of their religious and moral views. Penn interpreted their mode of living with understanding, sympathy and, on occasion, even wistful envy. This edition includes the texts of several early Indian treaties and related documents.
Call Number: F152.P293 1970ISBN: 0912608137Publication Date: 1970- Geographia Americae : with an account of the Delaware Indians : based on surveys and notes made in 1654-1656 byCall Number: Special Collections F167 .L73Publication Date: 1925
Leni-Lenape Primary Sources: Oral Histories
Oral histories are important sources of history and narrative in many Native American cultures and traditions. These examples bring to the forefront Indigenous perspectives and traditions.
Long Journey Home: Oral Histories of Contemporary Delaware Indians by
Through first-person accounts, Long Journey Home presents the stories of the Lenape, also known as the Delaware Tribe. These oral histories, which span the post-Civil War era to the present, are gathered into four sections and tell of personal and tribal events as they unfold over time and place. The history of the Lenape is one of forced displacement, from their original tribal home along the eastern seaboard into Pennsylvania, continuing with a series of displacements in Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, and the Indian Territory. For the group of Lenape interviewed for this book, home is now the area around Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The stories of their long journey have been handed down and remain part of the tribe's collective memory and bring an unforgettable immediacy to the tale of the Lenape. Above all they make clear that the history of seven generations remains very much alive.
Call Number: E99.D2 L66 2008ISBN: 0253349680Publication Date: 2007-12-24
The Turtle's Beating Heart: One Family's Story of Lenape Survival by
"Grandchildren meet their grandparents at the end," Denise Low says, "as tragic figures. We remember their decline and deaths. . . . The story we see as grandchildren is like a garden covered by snow, just outlines visible." Low brings to light deeply held secrets of Native ancestry as she recovers the life story of her Kansas grandfather, Frank Bruner (1889-1963). She remembers her childhood in Kansas, where her grandparents remained at a distance, personally and physically, from their grandchildren, despite living only a few miles away. As an adult, she comes to understand her grandfather's Delaware (Lenape) legacy of persecution and heroic survival in the southern plains of the early 1900s, where the Ku Klux Klan attacked Native people along with other ethnic minorities. As a result of such experiences, the Bruner family fled to Kansas City and suppressed their non-European ancestry as completely as possible. As Low unravels this hidden family history of the Lenape diaspora, she discovers the lasting impact of trauma and substance abuse, the deep sense of loss and shame related to suppressed family emotions, and the power of collective memory. Low traveled extensively around Kansas, tracking family history until she understood her grandfather's political activism and his healing heritage of connections to the land. In this moving exploration of her grandfather's life, the former poet laureate of Kansas evokes the beauty of the Flint Hills grasslands, the hardships her grandfather endured, and the continued discovery of his teachings.
Call Number: Available ONLINEISBN: 9780803294936Publication Date: 2017-01-01
