Bracero History Archive

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Bracero History Archive

The Bracero History Archive—a collaborative project of George Mason University, the Smithsonian, Brown University, and the University of Texas, El Paso—is an online collection of resources that documents the Bracero program, a guest worker initiative where millions of Mexicans came to work in American agriculture during the mid-20th century.

Little Cowpuncher: Rural School Newspaper of Southern Arizona

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Drawing, Ciara, From Little Cowpuncher, Redington School, November 20, 1932
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A work in progress, this site presents the southern Arizona school newspaper, Little Cowpuncher. Created by Anglo and Mexican American ranch children, from kindergarten through 8th grade, between 1932 and 1943 at five neighboring Arizona schools (Redington, Baboquivari, Sasco, San Fernando, and Sopori), the newspapers present the original and unedited stories, poems, and illustrations of students about their community and school life. The site includes a map that identifies the location of the five schools and users may select which newspaper they wish to examine by school and by year.

The newspapers include many stories about holiday celebrations, especially Halloween and Christmas. Also frequently featured are tales of rodeo activities and issues dedicated to graduating classmates. Other local events, such as an outbreak of chicken pox and droughts offer a unique perspective on the students' isolated rural lives.

Although the site is simply designed, middle and high school students and teachers will find that the newspapers present an opportunity to study pioneer Mexican and American ranch families and understand the bilingual and bicultural communities they created in Southern Arizona.

NativeWeb: Resources for Indigneous Cultures Around the World

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Logo, NativeWeb
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A project established in 1994 by a group of historians, independent scholars, and activists "to provide a cyber-place for Earth's indigenous peoples." Offers a gateway to more than 3,400 historical and contemporary resources relating to approximately 250 separate nations primarily in the Americas—but also including groups in Africa, Aotearoa-New Zealand, Asia, Australia, Europe, and Russia—to emphasize "indigenous literature and art, legal and economic issues, land claims, and new ventures in self-determination."

Includes 81 "history" links; bibliographies in 42 categories linking to approximately 1,000 sites with information on books, videos, and music; more than 350 links relevant to legal issues, including government documents; 41 "hosted pages" for a variety of organizations; a news digest; and a section devoted to Native American technology and art.

Resources are arranged according to subject, region, and nation, and the entire site is searchable. "Our purpose is not to 'preserve,' in museum fashion, some vestige of the past, but to foster communication among peoples engaged in the present and looking toward a sustainable future for those yet unborn." The site increases by approximately 10–15 links each week, providing an invaluable resource for those studying the history, culture, practices, and present-day issues confronting indigenous peoples of the world.

Native American Constitution and Law Digitization Project

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Logo, National Indian Law Library (NILL)
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This website presents full-text versions of 500 codes, constitutions, treaties, land titles, and Supreme Court decisions relating to the more than 500 Native American tribes in the U.S. The bulk of the material lies in the "IRA (Indian Reorganization Act) Era Constitutions and Charters" section, which offers close to 300 documents. These are primarily corporate charters, constitutions, and bylaws from the 1930s and 1940s. The website also includes the 1936 Composite Indian Reorganization Act for Alaska and twentieth-century constitutions from selected tribes, such as the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

For material before the twentieth century, the "Treaties" section includes scans of the original Six Nations Treaty of 1794 and the Senekas Treaties of 1797 and 1823. In addition, a digitized version of Felix Cohen's 1941 Handbook of Federal Indian Law, and the Opinions of the Solicitor of the Department of the Interior Relating to Indian Affairs 1917-1974 are both available.

Mission to Arizona, 1916–1940: Father Augustine Schwarz, O.F.M.

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Photo, Fr. Augustine on location with film Westerners
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This exhibition presents photographs taken by Father Augustine Schwarz (1887–1946) while he served as a Catholic missionary to American Indians in Arizona. The images, donated by the Schwartz family, depict missionary scenes and workers, church buildings, and other landmarks.

The site focuses on three American Indian groups—Pima, Papago, and Apache Indians—and serves as an accessible portal to Catholic missionary activities among those three groups. Many of the photographs are accompanied with brief descriptions and annotations by Father Schwarz. A brief biography of Father Schwarz is included.

Along with images of Whiteriver Apaches of northern Arizona taken by Father Schwarz's brother, Arnold Schwarz, the entire collection consists of 179 images.

Listening to Our Ancestors: The Art of Native Life Along the North Pacific Coast

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Red cedar, nails, Kwakwaka'wakw potlatch figure, c. 1930, Listening. . . site
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More than 400 ceremonial and everyday objects representing 11 Native communities along the North Pacific Coast-from the Tlingit and Haida in the North to the Coast Salish and Makah in the South-form the core of this virtual exhibit. Each community's objects are presented in separate virtual galleries curated by community members. In this way, each group presents its own culture and history in a way meaningful to that group. The Coast Salish curators, for example, chose only objects used in daily life, such as baskets and mats, canoes and fishing implements, household items, and weaving materials, as the community values keeping ceremonial and religious practices private. The Gitxan curators, on the other hand, focus on spirits and spiritual healers, and have included doll figures, masks, amulets, and headdresses in their collection.

Objects from other communities include art implements, such as paintbrushes, musical instruments, body adornment worn during dances, and wooden carvings. The photographs of all objects are high-quality, and a zoom function enables detailed viewing.

Kate and Sue McBeth, Missionary Teachers to the Nez Perce

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Image, Hal-hal-tlos-tsot or "Lawyer," Gustav Sohon, 1855, Kate and Sue McBeth
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Presenting full-text letters and diaries, this website focuses on the lives and careers of Kate and Sue McBeth, missionaries and teachers among the Nez Perce Indians during the last quarter of the 19th century. Government documents and images pertaining to the tribe's history accompany these materials. Sue McBeth established a successful theological seminary for Nez Perce men, collected and organized a Nez Perce/English dictionary, and wrote journal articles. Kate McBeth provided literacy education for Nez Perce women, taught Euro-American domestic skills, and directed a Sabbath school and mission society.

Divided into five sections, materials include more than 150 letters, a diary, a journal, five treaties, more than 70 commission and agency reports and legislative actions, excerpts from a history of the Nez Perce, and 19 biographies. Six maps and approximately 100 images, including 13 illustrations depicting the 1855 Walla Walla Treaty negotiations, are also available.

Indian Peoples of the Northern Great Plains Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/14/2008 - 11:31
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Image for Indian Peoples of the Northern Great Plains
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These 685 items represent 27 current and former American Indian tribes of the Northern Great Plains and cover a period from 1870 to 1954. Most of the materials are photographs with identifying text. The collection also includes stereographs, ledger drawings, and other sketches.

Users can view three unique collections. The Barstow Ledger Drawing Collection offers 66 Crow and Gros Ventre drawings from the late 19th century. A portfolio entitled Blackfeet Indian Tipis, Design and Legend includes 26 works and an introductory essay. Another collection offers treaties with the Assiniboine, Blackfeet, and North Piegan tribes from 1874 and 1875.

Searching is available by subject, date, location, name, tribe, collection, and artist or photographer. This valuable site documents folkways, material culture, and the history of American Indians from the Northern Great Plains region.

Chickasaw Historical Research Page

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Logo, Chickasaw History website
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Dedicated to making documents available concerning the Chickasaw Indian Nation—originally located in the South but removed in the 1830s to Oklahoma territory. This site, created by a member of the Chickasaw Indian Nation, contains a collection of more than 130 letters written by, to, or about the Chickasaw between 1792 and 1849; the texts of more than 30 treaties; and more than 25 additional documents such as tribal rolls, census information, government records, and Bible entries.

Includes a link to the author's other site Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory: 1837-1907, that contains a 650-word essay on Chickasaw Nation History and links to more than 15 additional sites pertaining to the Chickasaw and resources on more general Native American subjects.

American Indians of the Pacific Northwest

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northwest indians
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These 2,300 photographs and 7,700 pages of text focus on the lives of American Indians in the Northwest Coast and Plateau regions of the Pacific Northwest. Materials illustrate housing, clothing, crafts, transportation, education, employment, and other aspects of everyday life among American Indians in this region. Most of the photographs were taken before 1920.

Texts include more than 3,800 pages from the Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior from 1851 through 1908; 89 Pacific Northwest Quarterly articles from 1906—1998; and 23 titles in the University of Washington Publications in Anthropology series. The site also offers 14 maps and 10 lengthy essays authored by anthropologists on specific tribal groups and cross-cultural topics.