National Archives News

Native American Heritage Month

 

We observe Native American Heritage Month in November to recognize the achievements and contributions of Native Americans. In 1990 President George H. W. Bush approved a joint resolution designating November 1990 “National American Indian Heritage Month.” Similar proclamations, under variants on the name (including “Native American Heritage Month” and “National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month”) have been issued each year since 1994.

The National Archives holds hundreds of thousands of U.S. Government records relating to Native Americans, from as early as 1774 through the mid-1990s. These include original treaties signed with Native Americans, records from the Indian Schools, Indian Census Rolls, and Bureau of Indian Affairs records.


Indigenous Digital Archive’s Treaties Portal

Ratified Indian Treaty 37: Eel River, Wyandot, Piankashaw, Kaskaskia, and Kickapoo - Vincennes, Indiana Territory, August 7, 1803NARA collaborated with the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (MIAC) to launch the Indigenous Digital Archive’s Treaties Portal. This website provides public access to digital copies of NARA’s series of ratified Indian Treaties. The award-winning project was made possible by a generous gift from an anonymous donor and with the support of the National Archives Foundation, a nonprofit partner of the National Archives. Read more in the news release.

 


Research Resources

National Archives Catalog portal graphic.The National Archives holds hundreds of thousands of federal records relating to Native Americans. Find them in the research portal for American Indian records and Bureau of Indian Affairs photo finding aid. View related records in the National Archives Catalog.

Native Communities

Native communities program graphicOur Native Communities program is an educational resource providing step-by-step instructions for locating important Native American records. We offer hands-on practice, and special Citizen Archivist Missions to make records easily accessible.

History Hub

Blackbull and his granddaughter on the Blackfeet ReservationThe Native American Records Community on the History Hub is a space where you can learn about researching American Indian records. Ask a question, answer an unanswered question, or share your tips on how you research.

National Historical Publications and Records Commission

NHPRC-Mellon Start-Up Grants in Native American History: Support for collaborative Native American history projects including:

 

Accordion

Genealogy Series: Civilian Conservation Corps Indian Division on the Reservation​ - Cody White surveys records of the CCC Indian Division, which employed thousands of Native Americans and brought material aid and conservation efforts to their reservations. 

Genealogy Series: From Here to There: Researching Office of Indian Affairs Employees - Archivists offer guidance on how to research ancestors who worked for federal agencies.

New Insights: Native American History in the Colonial Period - The John F. Kennedy Library hosted a forum in March 2019.

“New Indian,”1977 - A Native American woman speaks about the American Indian Movement at the Ecumenical Conference of the North Central States.

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. David Grann discussed his book at an author lecture at the National Archives. (See the accompanying interview with the Archivist of the United States in the Pieces of History blog.)

Video highlights from the Nixon Library’s April 2015 conference

National Archives News

National Archives Records Lay Foundation for Book and Major Motion Picture

Records Help Family Connect With Oneida Nation Activist's Legacy

Medicine Lodge Creek Treaty on View at NMAI

National Archives Educators Engage with Navajo School on Civics, Treaties

Stand Up and Be Counted: Native Americans in the Federal Census

New Finding Aid Improves Search for Native American Photos

National Archives Awards Grant to Standing Rock Sioux Tribe

Canadian Library and Archives Officials Discuss Indigenous Initiatives

Efforts Begin to Digitize 377 Native Treaties

New York City Archives Exhibits Native Nations Treaties

Blogs

AOTUS Blog: The Importance of Acknowledging History—The Archivist's blog series acknowledges the ancestral lands on which the National Archives’ buildings are situated across the country.

AOTUS Blog: National Archives and Museum of Indian Arts & Culture Share New Online Education Tool Expanding Access to Treaties Between the U.S. and Native Nations

AOTUS Blog: Ratified Indian Treaties—Making Access Happen

Education Updates: Native Warriors on Both Sides of the Battle of Little Bighorn

History Hub: Blog posts on Native American records

Pieces of History: Native American Heritage Month: N. Scott Momaday

Pieces of History: Terror on the Osage Reservation

Pieces of History: Carlisle Indian School's World War I Soldiers

Pieces of History: “A Real Injustice Was Done to These Two Old Scouts”: VA Claim File of an Indian Scout

Pieces of History: Middle Oregon Treaty of 1855

Pieces of History: The Power of American Indian Boarding School Records

Pieces of History: “Observations” of Native American Records at the National Archives

Pieces of History: Quiet Revelations at Navajo Nation

Pieces of History: Researching the Osage Murders - interview with Archivist Ferriero

Pieces of History: National Archives and the National Museum of the American Indian: A Partnership

Pieces of History: Nation to Nation: Treaties at the National Museum of the American Indian

Pieces of History: The Navajo Treaty Travels to the Navajo Nation

Pieces of History: On Exhibit: the Indian Removal Act

Pieces of History: Indian Treaties at the Museum of the American Indian

Pieces of History: The Navajo Treaty of 1868: A Personal Story

Pieces of History: Treaties at the National Museum of the American Indian

Pieces of History: Minnie Spotted Wolf and the Marine CorpsPieces of History: “Indian New Deal”

Text Message: Getting Out the Vote: Indian Reorganization Act Elections on the Rez

Text Message: Where to Lay an American Hero? The Burial Controversy of John Rice (Ho-Chunk)

Text Message: Not “the last Chilkat blanket weaver”: The Story of Annie Klaney and the Indian Arts and Crafts Board

Text Message: Meet Sgt. Eva Mirabal/Eah Ha Wa (Taos Pueblo); Women’s Army Corps Artist

The Text Message: “How about a little football game?” The Albuquerque Indian School’s Dominating Football Run, 1926–1931

The Text Message: The Stories Behind the Names: Death at the Santa Fe Indian School, 1891–1909

The Text Message: Inside the Still Imaging Lab: Digitization of the Ratified Indian Treaties, 1722–1869

The Text Message: Back to the Future: Conserving Ratified Indian Treaties, 1722–1869

The Text Message: Ratified Indian Treaties Digitization Project

The Text Message: Remembering Tony Dedman

The Text Message: “Invasion”: The 1918–1920 Pandemic on the Reservation

The Text Message: Righting a Wrong: The Return of Blue Lake to the Taos Pueblo

The Text Message: Celebrating Native American Heritage Month with the National Register of Historic Places

The Text Message: “The Most Barbarous and Inhuman Practice”: The Elimination of Slavery in the Territories, as Seen in the Office of Indian Affairs Microfilm Series

The Text Message: The War After the War: The American Indian Fight for the Vote after WWII

The Text Message: John Werito Goes to War; A Story of a WWII Diné [Navajo] Code Talker

The Text Message: From Scouting for Custer to Farming the Plains; The Life and Times of Hairy Moccasin as Seen in the Crow Indian Agency Records

The Text Message: Considerable Talent and Great Promise: the Early Years of Navajo Artist Beatien Yazz

The Text Message: We Hold the Rock!

The Text Message: “We’re not as bad as we look”: Girls’ Education at the Albuquerque Indian School

The Text Message: The Blue Arrow Head

The Unwritten Record: Irrigation Records from Bureau of Indian Affairs Now Digitized

The Unwritten Record: The Bureau of Indian Affairs—Photographs Finding Aid: A Closer Look

The Unwritten Record: Non-Military Photographs of Native Americans Within the Records of the Chief Signal Officer

The Unwritten Record: “Who Has Given More Than the Indian?”

The Unwritten Record: Dr. Paul Owen: The First PHS Optometrist

The Unwritten Record: The Indian School for Practical Nursing

Prologue

David Grann: Killers of the Flower Moon

Homes on the Range; Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Industrial Surveys of the 1920s

The Civilian Conservation Corps Indian Division

A Victor in Defeat: Chief Gall’s Life on the Standing Rock Reservation

Lead the Way: U.S. Indian Scouts

Native Americans in the Antebellum U.S. Military

Native Americans in the Census

The Secret Treaties with California's Indians

Winema and the Modoc War: One Woman's Struggle for Peace

Jesse S. Haire: Unwilling Indian Fighter

"Semper Fidelis, Code Talkers"

The Search for the Site of the Sand Creek Massacre

Indian Bounty Land Applications

Snakes & Scribes: The Dawes Commission and the Enrollment of the Creeks

Online Interactive Exhibit:  Record of Rights, Rights of Native American Indians

National Museum of the American Indian’s “Nation to Nation” exhibition  Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations. September 21, 2014– 2021, all treaties on loan from the National Archives.

 

 

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