American Indian Histories and Cultures

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Sources From The Edward E. Ayer Collection At The Newberry Library, Chicago

American Indian Histories and Cultures presents material from the Newberry Library’s Edward E. Ayer Collection, one of the strongest available archival collections on American Indian history. Early contacts between Europeans and American Indians and the subsequent political, social and cultural effects of those encounters on American Indian life is told against the backdrop of the expanding western frontier right through to the civil rights movement of the mid-twentieth century.

The material includes:

• Manuscripts (treaties, speeches, petitions, diaries, travel journals, ledger books)
• Artwork (illustrations, sketches, watercolours, oil paintings, American Indian art)
• American Indian Newspapers covering the 1960s to 1990s
• Rare Printed Books
• Photographs
• Maps

This rich and diverse material allows for an exploration of the following themes:

• American Indians and the European Powers
• American Indians and the US Government
• Indigenous Peoples of Mexico
• Military Encounters: Conflicts, Rebellions and Alliances
• Observation, Representation and Cultural Encounters
• Missionaries and Education
• Trade
• Civil Rights Movement

American Indian Histories and Cultures will complement and build upon the success of The American West. Both resources will be cross-searchable.