Research Guides: Native American &amp; Indigenous Studies: Primary Sources & Archives

Potentially Harmful Content in Archives

Historical materials found in digital or physical archives may use inaccurate, outdated, or harmful language to refer to Native American and Indigenous peoples and may also contain offensive imagery. This material is provided for research purposes as part of the historical record and not to condone any offensive language or imagery.

While many of these databases are licensed by FSU from third-party vendors, you may wish to consult the FSU Special Collections & Archives Statement on Potentially Harmful Content to learn more about how FSU archivists are working to improve the language we use to describe materials about Native people while continuing to provide access to important historical records.

Oral Histories

When we look for primary sources, the historical evidence we use to interpret the past, we often privilege written documents found in archives and libraries. Equally important in many Native cultures are oral traditions, language, and storytelling.

Duke Collection of American Indian Oral History
"Provides access to typescripts of interviews (1967 -1972) conducted with hundreds of Indians in Oklahoma regarding the histories and cultures of their respective nations and tribes."
Native Americans Oral History Collections (UF)
"The 'Native Americans Oral History Collections' is part of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program is an affiliated program of the University of Florida's Department of History. Its collections include approximately 4,000 interviews and more than 85,000 pages of transcribed material, making it the largest oral history archive in the South and one of the major collections in the country. The transcribed interviews are available for use by research scholars, students, journalists, genealogists, and other interested groups. Researchers have used our oral history material for theses, dissertations, articles, and books."
Samuel Proctor Oral History Program Digital Collection (University of Florida)
With over 8,000 interviews, of which over 3.600 are online, this is one of the largest oral history archives in the South. The largest collection contains more than 900 interviews with Native Americans including Seminoles, Cherokees, and Creeks. Other major holdings include projects on African Americans in Florida in the Joel Buchanan Archive of African American Oral History, Civil Rights action in St. Augustine (1964), and the University of Florida.
Indian-Pioneer Papers
The Indian-Pioneer Papers oral history collection spans from 1861 to 1936. It includes typescripts of interviews conducted during the 1930s by government workers with thousands of Oklahomans regarding the settlement of Oklahoma and Indian territories, as well as the condition and conduct of life there.

Digital Archives

American Indian Histories and Cultures This link opens in a new window
Spanning four centuries and covering North and Central America, this digital resource provides access to material from the Newberry Library’s extensive Edward E. Ayer Collection; one of the strongest archival collections on American Indian history in the world. Discover a unique insight into interactions between American Indians and Europeans from their earliest contact, continuing through the turbulence of the American Civil War, the ongoing repercussions of government legislation, right up to the civil rights movement of the mid-twentieth century. Explore manuscripts, artwork and rare printed books dating from the earliest contact with European settlers right up to photographs and newspapers from the mid-twentieth century. Browse through a wide range of rare and original documents from treaties, speeches and diaries, to historic maps and travel journals.
Resource URL: http://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk
Abbreviation: amaihc
Vendor: Adam Matthew Digital Ltd
Coverage: 16th to the mid-20th centuries
Subjects: Anthropology, Cultural Heritage, History
Type: Historical / Primary Sources, Images, Maps, Newspapers and Newswires
Colonial America This link opens in a new window
Colonial America makes available all 1,450 volumes of the Colonial Office documents (CO 5 series) from The National Archives, UK, covering British administrative activities in North America from 1606 to 1822. Much of this activity involved negotiations and relationships with the Native peoples who controlled much of the land claimed by the British empire. Also includes original correspondence between the British government and the governments of the American colonies.
Resource URL: http://www.colonialamerica.amdigital.co.uk
Abbreviation: ca
Vendor: Adam Matthew Digital Ltd
Coverage: 1606–1822
Subjects: History
Type: Biographies, Government Publications, Historical / Primary Sources, Images, Indexes / Catalogs, Maps, Newspapers and Newswires
Indigenous Peoples of North America This link opens in a new window
Select the "Collections" icon in the upper right of this platform to see the range of materials available, including mission and trade documents, census records, correspondence, Bureau of Indian Affairs records, and more.
FSU has access to parts one and two.

Resource URL: https://link.gale.com/apps/INDP?u=tall85761
Abbreviation: ipna
Vendor: Gale
Subjects: Anthropology, Cultural Heritage, History
Type: Historical / Primary Sources
North American Indian Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
North American Indian Thought and Culture integrates autobiographies, biographies, Indian publications, oral histories, personal writings, photographs, drawings, and audio files. The accounts offer a direct window into Indian attitudes toward the earliest European settlers and the resultant transformations that took place, first as trade was established and later as displacement forced tribes into unfamiliar territories. The collection presents the entire spectrum of native peoples experiences from their own point of view.
Resource URL: https://search.alexanderstreet.com/ibio
Abbreviation: naitc
Vendor: Alexander Street, a ProQuest Company
Subjects: Anthropology, Cultural Heritage, History
Type: Historical / Primary Sources

Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
- This link opens in a new window
The U. S. National Archives has begun digitizing records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Territorial Papers of the United States This link opens in a new window
From the 1760s to the 1950s the United States of America expanded southward and westward, acquiring territories through various means from Florida to California to Alaska. Much of this land was Native land. This collection includes documents from U.S. State and Interior departments, which administered territories before they became states, and relations with Native Americans feature prominently.
Resource URL: http://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/?p=TERPX
Abbreviation: tpus
Vendor: NewsBank
Coverage: 1764–1953
Subjects: History, Women's and Gender Studies, Demography and Population Studies
Type: Government Publications, Historical / Primary Sources
War Department and Indian Affairs, 1800-1824 This link opens in a new window
This collection consists of the letters received by and letters sent to the War Department, including correspondence from Indian superintendents and agents, factors of trading posts, Territorial and State governors, military commanders, Indians, missionaries, treaty and other commissioners, Treasury Department officials, and persons having commercial dealings with the War Department, and other public and private individuals. In addition, attachments include vouchers, receipts, requisitions, abstracts and financial statements, certificates of deposit, depositions, contracts, newspapers, copies of speeches to Indians, proceedings of conferences with Indians in Washington, licenses of traders, passports for travel in the Indian country, appointments, and instructions to commissioners, superintendents, agents, and other officials.
Resource URL: https://link.gale.com/apps/collection/3XNU/GDSC?u=tall85761&sid=GDSC
Abbreviation: wdia
Vendor: Gale
Coverage: 1800–1824
Subjects: Communication, History
Type: Government Publications, Historical / Primary Sources

Florida & the Native South

In addition to the resources listed above, scholars of the Native South and histories of Florida may also be interested in the following primary sources.

Papeles procedentes de Cuba
A large set of documents copied to microfilm from the Archivo General de Indias (AGI) in Seville, Spain. These records document the period of Spanish colonial government in Florida and Louisiana. The were originally stored in the archives of Havana, Cuba--hence the name--before being transferred to Spain in the 1880s.
East Florida Papers
Digitized very recently by the Library of Congress, this collection consists primarily of the records of the Spanish colonial government of East Florida from 1784, when Spain regained the colony from Great Britain, until 1821, when Spain ceded Florida to the United States. These records were turned over to the Americans during the latter transition, but many important documents from this period were sent to Havana and remain part of the Papeles procedentes de Cuba.