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American Indian Studies is a broad field encompassing several disciplines including anthropology, art, astronomy, biology, botany, education, geography, healing arts, history, language, law, literature, music, and politics. With the implementation of the new American Indian Studies major in fall 1996 there will be an increasing demand for information about American Indians.

McIntyre Library has a wealth of resources for those studying American Indians, and this guide explains how to access them. See also Guide to McIntyre Library available at the University Bookstore, for additional information about the resources referred to in this handout.

Reference Those interested in American Indian Studies research should begin by consulting the Reference collection. There are many specialized bibliographies, almanacs, atlases, dictionaries, directories, encyclopedias, research guides, and travel guides geared toward the field of American Indian Studies. Examples include:

  • The Native North American Almanac: A Reference Work on Native North Americans in the United States and Canada (REF E77 .N37 1994).
  • Atlas of Great Lakes Indian History (REF E78 .G7 A 87 1987).
  • Ethnographic Bibliography of North America (REF Z1209 .M8 1960)
  • American Indian Women: A Guide to Research (REF Z1209.2 .N67 B36 1991)
  • Dictionary of Indians of North America (REF E89 .D52 1978)
  • The Encyclopedia of American Indian Costume (REF E98 .C8 P37 1994)

Consult library staff for assistance in locating other reference materials.

Using the Online Catalog to Identify American Indian Studies Resources

Students can access listings of AIS resources through the online catalog.

The UWEC catalog includes citations for books, recordings, microfilm, microfiche, multi-media, government documents, university records, local public records, manuscripts, and journal and magazine titles.

To find journal and magazine articles, use the INDEXES catalog, which includes several specialized tools for locating articles in periodicals.

For general assistance with the online catalog system, see the handouts:

Guide to Basic Searching in the Online Catalog and

Guide to Advanced Searching in the Online Catalog in the Reference Area.

Those studying general or comparative topics in American Indian Studies may want to begin with a subject or keyword search in the UWEC catalog. Executing a subject search, "Indians of North America" (s=indians of north america) would not be advisable since it returns over 5,000 items. Students must narrow their search by subtopic.

One effective way to narrow a subject search is to select citations resulting from a keyword search and to examine the list of subjects.

For example, try k=indians and art, select one or more citations, choose the subject headings that best fit the research topic, and search those subject areas for additional sources within that subject field.

Students seeking information about a particular group should use the name of the tribe in the subject (or keyword) search. Generally, these names are cross-referenced, but to save time, here are corresponding Library of Congress subject headings for Wisconsin tribes:

Wisconsin tribal group common name(s): Online catalog subject heading:

  • Brotherton/Brothertown s=brotherton indians
  • Chippewa/Ojibwe s=ojibwa indians
  • Ho-Chunk/Winnebago s=winnebago indians
  • Menominee s=menominee indians
  • Oneida s=oneida indians
  • Potawatomi s=potawatomi indians
  • Sioux s=dakota OR s=lakota OR s=teton indians
  • Stockbridge-Munsee s=stockbridge indians

 

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Last Update: December 6, 2007

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