Ethnic Studies
Native American Studies

Introduction
This guide is designed to help you do research on social, cultural, political, economic, literary, and historical topics related to Native Americans, or American Indians. Primary focus of this guide is Indians of North America - the indigenous peoples of the contiguous United States, Canada and Alaska. Sources listed below represent a sampling of the library's collection. Note that the cross-disciplinary nature of Native American studies means that relevant titles are often dispersed throughout the collection.  

Background Info
Taking a few minutes to read about your topic in a specialized encyclopedia, dictionary or handbook may be one of the most effective and time saving research tips in this guide. These can help you define unfamiliar terms, locate quick biographical information, verify dates and events. Encyclopedia articles are often followed by carefully selected bibliographies or lists of references to other works, useful items to have as you begin looking for additional information. The following are located on the Reference shelves behind the Reference Desk area unless otherwise noted..

 If you'd like learn more about research and online resources stop by the Reference Desk, or take a class at the Library.
Indians Of North America : Methods And Sources For Library Research   Ref EZ1209.H22 1983
Handbook of North American Indians 20 volumes are planned in this comprehensive study of the Indians of North America. Organized by region, they included bibliographies and indexes.   Ref E76.2H36
The Earth is our mother: a guide to the Indians of California, their locales and historic Sites  Ref E78 .C15E2 1991
Encyclopedia of North American Indians  Ref E76.2 .E53 1996
Native America in the twentieth century: an encyclopedia  Ref E76.2 .N36 1994
The Native North American almanac: a reference work on native North Americans in the United States and Canada   Ref E77.N37 1994
Native Americans: an encyclopedia of history, culture, and peoples  Ref E77 .P89 1998
The encyclopedia of Native American economic history  Ref E98.E2 E52 1999
The Gale encyclopedia of Native American tribes  Ref E77 .G15 1998

The Library also has Reference guides to more specialized Native American topics:
Healing Encyclopedia of Native American healing  Ref E98.M4 L96 1996
Law Native Americans and the law : contemporary and historical perspectives on American Indian rights, freedoms, and sovereignty  Ref KF8205.A1 N3 1996
The ABC-CLIO companion to the Native American Rights movement  Ref KF8203.36 .G76 1996
American Indian law in a nutshell  KF8205.Z9 C36 1998 - 3 North
Native Americans and the Law: a dictionary  Ref KF8203.6 .S66 2000
The encyclopedia of Native American legal tradition  Ref KF8204 .E53 1998
Documents of American Indian diplomacy : treaties, agreements, and conventions, 1775-1979  KF8202 1999 - 3 North
Religion/Ceremonies Encyclopedia of Native American religions  Ref E98.R3H73 1991
Encyclopedia of Native American shamanism: sacred ceremonies of North America  Ref E98.M4 L98 1998
Music North American Indian music: a guide to published sources and selected recordings  ML128.F75 K44 1997 - 3 North
Art The Continuum encyclopedia of native art: worldview, symbolism, and culture in Africa, Oceania, and native North America  Ref E 98 .A7 W49 2000
Film From savage to nobleman: images of Native Americans in film  PN1995.9.I48 H55 1995 - 3 N
Literature Native American literatures: an encyclopedia of works, characters, authors, and themes  Ref PS153.I52 W47 1999

Finding articles
Try starting your search with a periodical index which arranges articles by subject. There are many indexes to choose from, some available in online formats. Many indexes have not been put online and can only be accessed in print. These are located in the Reference Area. An often overlooked resource for journal articles are the bibliographies that can be found at the end of related journal articles or in books on your topic. Stop by the Reference Desk for help.

Databases relevant to Native American Studies:  This link will open a new page to the Ethnic Studies Resouces page that includes links for each of the following databases.
  Infotrac:Expanded Academic Sociological Abstracts MLA (literature)
  EBSCOhost: Academic Index GenderWatch ABI (business)
  PsycINFO (psychology) ERIC (education) Ethnic NewsWatch
  America: History and Life    

Sample Journals: Journals are in alphabetical order located on 3rd floor South.
Akwesasne notes Journal of American Indian education
American Indian culture and research journal. News from Native California.
American Indian law review  

Finding books
Don't bother looking for the card catalog if you want to locate books at CSUS. The catalogs for finding materials in the library are computerized. These online catalogs are powerful search tools, but to take full advantage of them you may need some help getting started. Stop by the Reference Desk for one on one assistance in learning how to use these systems, or check out the workshops offered throughout the school year.

CSU Sacramento's Catalog
EUREKA is CSUS's local online library system. It allows you to locate books, periodicals, government publications, music scores, films and more. EUREKA also provides status information, e.g. if the material is checked out. It does not, however, index journal contents or include the full text of articles. Click here to go to a web-based EUREKA session.

Library of Congress Subject Headings
EUREKA and other online databases use "Library of Congress Subject Headings" (large red books at the Reference Desk) to catalog books. These subject headings are slow to change and sometimes removed from contemporary usage; they are, however, extremely useful in locating books and articles. Subject headings:
  • Indians of North America - Land tenure 
  • Tewa Indians -- Rites and ceremonies 
  • Haida art -- Exhibitions 
  • Indians of North America -- Great Plains -- Women 
  • Kiowa language -- Grammar 
  • Oglala Indians -- Government relations 
  • Diegueño Indians -- Ethnobotany 
  • American Indian Movement -- History 
  • United States--Civilization--Indian influences 
  • Papago Indian Reservation
  • Indian Dance North America 
  • Inuit Alaska
Specific tribes or geographical locations can be substituted for other groups or locations. Some names and organizations can also be used in subject searches. For help locating materials or instruction on using EUREKA or any online database please ask at the Reference Desk.

Government Documents
American Indian nations count!: United States census 2000   Gov Docs C 3.2:IN 2/15
We the first Americans.   Gov Docs C 3.2:AM 3/19  http://www.census.gov/apsd/wepeople/we-5.pdf
The FBI files on the American Indian Movement and Wounded Knee [microfilm]  Microfilm 000388

Statistics and Atlases
 Statistical record of Native North Americans  Ref E98.P76S73 1995
 Nations within a nation: historical statistics of American Indians  Ref E77.S924 1987
 Atlas of the North American Indian   Ref E77 .W195 1985

Biographies and Directories
Native America: portrait of the peoples   Ref E76.2 .N35 1994
Shapers of the great debate on Native Americans: land, spirit, and power: a biographical dictionary  Ref E98.L3 J65 2000
The encyclopedia of Native American biography: six hundred life stories of important people from Powhatan to Wilma Mankiller  Ref E89 .J69 1997 
Native American women: a biographical dictionary  Ref E98.W8B38 2001
Native American writers of the United States  Ref PN141 .D5 v.175
Notable Native Americans  Ref E89 .N67 1995
Who was who in Native American history: Indians and non-Indians from early contacts through 1900  Ref E89.W35 1990

Bibliographies
A bibliography is a list of books, articles and sometimes other materials such as films and recordings. They can be entire books, within books or at the end of journal articles. These are often overlooked resources that can be a treasure trove of related sources. Some are even annotated, with short descriptions of each entry. A well-organized, carefully selected and annotated bibliography can lead you to the best and most relevant sources on your topic.
American Indian studies: a bibliographic guide  Ref EZ1209 .W52 1995
North American Indian music: a guide to published sources and selected recordings  Ref ML128.F75 K44 1997
North American Indians and Alaska natives: abstracts of the psychological and behavioral literature, 1967-1994  Ref E59.P87 N67 1995

WWW
The World Wide Web (WWW) provides a means of connecting to a vast amount of information via the Internet. The range of information is enormous, ever-changing and astonishingly varied. However, just because something comes packaged in a high tech format, doesn't mean it's well researched or accurate. One approach to researching the Web is to start your search using a site that is more likely to focus on scholarly resources and critically evaluate your WWW search results.
National Museum of the American Indian Web resources http://www.si.edu/nmai/links/content.html
Native American Documents Project http://www.csusm.edu/nadp/nadp.htm
Native American Treaties and Agreements http://envirotext.eh.doe.gov/treaties.htm
Native American Tribal Law Codes http://envirotext.eh.doe.gov/triblaw.htm 
Index of Native American Resources on the Internet  http://www.hanksville.org/NAresources 
Native Web http://www.nativeweb.org
Native American Studies [Stanford U.]  http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/native/indian.html
American Indian Resource Ctr, Huntington Park Lib. http://www.colapublib.org/libs/huntingtonpark/indian.html

Maintained by Kathryn Blackmer Reyes. Last modified: July 2003