Native American Resources at the American Philosophical Society
Sequoyah, 1770?-1843
Images
This image gallery presents a small selection from the APS Library’s extensive collections of pictures of or relating to Native Americans. From 2007 to 2010, more than 113,000 images were inventoried and described as part of the Native American Images Project. More sample images (over 700) can be viewed or searched at Native American Images Digital Collections. Please note that Native American images appear in several different digital collections.
For information on ordering reproductions of images in the APS collections for study or publication, visit Rights & Reproductions.
Manuscripts
MOLE, the Library’s online manuscripts catalogue, is fully searchable. Search by full text or metadata, or browse by creator or title. Finding aids present background information and detailed descriptions of items in each collection. For the 200+ collections that include Native American images, there are also inventories or summary descriptions of those pictures, along with links to selected images available online (see above).
The Daythal Kendall Guide to Native American Collections is a comprehensive database of manuscript holdings pertaining to Native American languages and cultures held at the American Philosophical Society. Search or browse by descriptive facets (subject terms), tribe or language name, or creator name.
In addition, the Library’s list of Published Guides to Collections includes several guides and bibliographies listing Native American materials. See especially "The Proper Study of Mankind": An Annotated Bibliography of Manuscript Sources on Anthropology and Archaeology and American Scientific Exploration, 1803–1865.
Printed Materials
VOLE (Vaughan On-line Catalogue), the Library’s online catalogue of printed materials, includes several thousand books, periodicals, and other items on Native American topics. Search by author, title, keyword, or Library of Congress subject heading.
The online bibliography Natural History and the New World, 1524–1770: An Annotated Bibliography of Printed Materials lists many early books at the APS that include information on Native American topics.
Other Materials
Audio recordings: Excerpts from the Library’s extensive collections of Native American Sound Recordings are currently available for listening online.
Maps: To browse or search for maps and atlases related to Native American topics, visit Realms of Gold: A Catalogue of Maps. Selected maps have been scanned at high resolution and can be viewed in detail.
Broadsides: The online finding aid for the Broadsides Collection includes a Social Science section, which lists numerous broadsides (single printed sheets, occasionally illustrated) related to Native American archaeology, antiquities, and linguistics.
Selected Bibliography
This is a short list of books related to Native American history and images that were useful references for this project. It is not a comprehensive bibliography on these topics.
Berkhofer, Robert F., Jr. The White Man's Indian: Images of the American Indian from Columbus to the Present. New York: Vintage Books, 1978.
Bernadin, Susan, et al. Trading Gazes: Euro-American Women Photographers and Native North Americans, 1880–1940. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2003.
Brown, Michael F. Who Owns Native Culture? Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2003.
Bush, Alfred L., and Lee Clark Mitchell. The Photograph and the American Indian. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1994.
Carter, Edward C., II. “One Grand Pursuit”: A Brief History of the American Philosophical Society’s First 250 Years, 1743–1993. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1993.
Conn, Steven. History’s Shadow: Native Americans and Historical Consciousness in the Nineteenth Century. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.
Edwards, Elizabeth, ed. Anthropology & Photography, 1860–1920. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992.
Fagan, Brian. Elusive Treasure: The Story of Early Archaeologists in the Americas. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1977.
Faris, James C. Navaho and Photography: A Critical History of the Representation of an American People. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996.
Johansen, Bruce E. The Native Peoples of North America: A History. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2005.
Johnson, Tim, ed. Spirit Capture: Photographs from the National Museum of the American Indian. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998.
Josephy, Alvin M., Jr., ed. Lewis and Clark Through Indian Eyes: Nine Indian Writers on the Legacy of the Expedition. New York: Vintage Books, 1996.
Lippard, Lucy, ed. Partial Recall: Essays on Photographs of Native North Americans. New York: New Press, 1992.
Mann, Charles C. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. New York: Knopf, 2005.
Miller, Robert J. Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis & Clark, and Manifest Destiny. Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers, 2006.
National Museum of the American Indian. The Changing Presentation of the American Indian: Museums and Native Cultures. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution; Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000.
Nies, Judith. Native American History: A Chronology of the Vast Achievements of a Culture and Their Links to World Events. New York: Ballantine Books, 1996.
Peacock, James L. The Anthropological Lens: Harsh Light, Soft Focus. 2d ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Smith, Murphy D. A Museum: The History of the Cabinet of Curiosities of the American Philosophical Society. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1996.
Wallace, Anthony F. C. Jefferson and the Indians: The Tragic Fate of the First Americans. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1999.
Tiro, Karim M. Words & Deeds: Natives, Europeans, and Writing in Eastern North America, 1500–1800. Philadelphia: The Rosenbach Museum & Library, 1997.
Williams, Lucy Fowler. Guide to the North American Ethnographic Collections at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Philadelphia: The Museum, 2003.
Wright, Ronald. Stolen Continents: The “New World” Through Indian Eyes. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1992.