Library Guides: Northwest Native American and Tribal History: Home

Introduction

This guide suggests useful resources for studying the history of Native American history and culture in the Pacific Northwest, with an emphasis on resources available through Western Libraries Archives & Special Collections programs. It is not exhaustive and many of the resources listed are local or regional in focus. Contact Western Libraries Research Desk or Archives & Special Collections' staff if you need assistance finding more information.

Related Research Guides

Indian Treaties: Information at Western Libraries
Guide to government documents and published resources available at Western Libraries.
Native American Records in the National Archives
Introductory guide to records available through the National Archives, with links to related resources.
Native American Research Guide (UW)
Research and Resources on Fish and Fishing
Guide to archival and other resources available via Western Libraries' Archives & Special Collections.
U.S. Census Bureau: Facts on the American Indian and Alaska Native Populations
Links about census information on American Indian and Alaska Native Populations, and background on census classifications by ethnicity and race.
U.S. Census Bureau: American Indian and Alaska Native
Links about census information on American Indian and Alaska Native Populations, including federally recognized Tribes.

More Campus Connections

WWU offers a variety of courses in Native American studies. Check out the WWU Course Catalog for more information.

Resources from the Western Libraries Catalog

This is a very brief list of titles frequently accessed by our researchers - many additional resources can be accessed via the Western Libraries Catalog. Please Ask Us if you need assistance.

A Stó:lō-Coast Salish historical atlas
Call Number: Western Library Wilson 4C - Northwest Collection - Oversize G1172.F7E1 S8 2001
The Canoe Rocks: Alaska's Tlingit and the Euramerican frontier, 1800-1912 by Hinckley, Ted C.
Call Number: Western Library Wilson 4C - Northwest Collection E99.T6 H55 1996
Also @ Archives & Special Collections--Archives Building Center for Pacific Northwest Studies Reference Room E99.T6 H55 1996
Chilliwacks and Their Neighbors by Wells, Oliver, 1907-1970
Call Number: Western Library Wilson 4C - Northwest Collection E99.C5523 W45 1987
Also located @ Archives Building--Washington State Archives--NW Regional Branch Reference Room E99.C5523 W45 19
The Duwamish, Lummi, ... [et al] versus the United States of America by Duwamish Indians et al., claimants.
Call Number: Available at Western Library Wilson 4C - Northwest Collection E78.W3 D8
History of Lummi Fishing Rights
Call Number: Wilson 4C - Northwest Collection E99.L95 N79
History of Lummi legal action against the United States
Call Number: Wilson 4W - Books KF8228.L95 N83
Also Available at Wilson 4C - Northwest Collection KF8228.L95 N83 and Archives & Special Collections--Archives Building Center for Pacific Northwest Studies Vertical Files (Folder 250 )
Indians, fire, and the land in the Pacific Northwest
Call Number: Available at Western Library Wilson 4C - Northwest Collection E78.N77 I53 1999
"Drawing on historical journals, Native American informants, and botanical and forestry studies, the contributors to this book describe local patterns of fire use in eight ecoregions, representing all parts of the Native Northwest from southwest Oregon to British Columbia and from Puget Sound to the Northern Rockies"
Indians in the making: ethnic relations and Indian identities around Puget Sound by Harmon, Alexandra.
Call Number: Western Library Wilson 4C - Northwest Collection E78.W3 H37
Also located @ Archives & Special Collections--Archives Building Center for Pacific Northwest Studies Reference Room E78.W3 H37 1999

"...offers the first comprehensive account of these meetings, from the land-based fur trade of the 1820s to the Indian fishing rights activism of the 1970s. This history shows how notions of Indian identity - both Indian and non-Indian - changed as relations changed. "
Indians of Skagit County
Call Number: Available at Western Library Wilson 3W - Books E78.W3 S24
General history, New religions, Individual history for the eleven tribes, Swinomish reservation, Indian legends, Stories, oration by Chief Seattle, The Point Elliot (Muckilteo) treaty.

Also at: Wilson 4C - Northwest Collection E78.W3 S24 and Archives Building--Washington State Archives--NW Regional Branch Reference Room E78.W3 S24
Listening to our ancestors: the art of native life along the north pacific coast
Call Number: Available at Western Library Wilson 4C - Northwest Collection E78.N78 L58 2005
"in a series of community self-portraits, cultural figures from eleven Northwest Coast nations discuss the ways in which these masterpieces, as well as everyday tools and utensils from the museum's collections, connect them with their forbears, who made and used these beautiful objects. Kwakwaka'wakw Chief Robert Joseph and the community curators contrast the approach anthropologists and art historians have taken to the treasures of the Northwest with Native people's perspective on their cultural legacy."
Lummi elders speak by Nugent, Ann (ed)
Call Number: Western Library Wilson 4C - Northwest Collection E99.L95 L86 1999
Also located @ Archives Building--Washington State Archives--NW Regional Branch Reference Room E99.L95 L86 1999
Lummi Indian census rolls for selected years between 1885-1912, and 1950
Available at Archives & Special Collections--Archives Building Center for Pacific Northwest Studies Reference Room.

Photocopy of typed material copied from microfilm reproductions of originals housed at the National Archives. Typed documents and text written by Howard Buswell; includes handwritten annotations by Buswell throughout.
Lummi Indians of Northwest Washington
Call Number: Archives & Special Collections--Archives Building Center for Pacific Northwest Studies Reference Room E99.L95 S8
Publication Date: 1934
Also in: Archives & Special Collections--Special Collections Rare Book Collection E99.L95 S8

The cycle of life, Tribal culture, Legend and lore.
Native peoples of the Olympic Peninsula: who we are
Call Number: Western Library Wilson 4C - Northwest Collection E78.W3 N37 2002
Also @ Archives Building--Washington State Archives--NW Regional Branch Reference Room E78.W3 N37 2002

"The Native tribes of Washington State's Olympic Peninsula share complex histories of trade, religion, warfare, and kinship. Yet few books have depicted the indigenous people of this region from a Native perspective. "
Otter skins, Boston ships, and China goods: the maritime fur trade of the Northwest Coast, 1785-1841
Call Number: Western Library Wilson 4C - Northwest Collection HD9778.5.S4153 N74 1992
The dominant economic activity in the area. The Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Nootka, Salish, and Chinook spent much of their time hunting fur-bearing animals and trading their pelts - especially the highly prized "black skins" of sea otters - to Russian, British, Spanish, and American traders for metals, firearms, textiles, and food. Gibson's new.
Interpretations derive from his use of Western primary sources that have been largely ignored by previous investigators; Russian-language sources not consulted by others; the records of the Russian-American, East India, and Hudson's Bay companies; the unpublished logs and journals of a number of American ships; and the business correspondence of several New England shipowners.
Peoples of the sea wind: the native Americans of the Pacific Coast
Call Number: Western Library Wilson 4C - Northwest Collection E78.P2 B76
Nine accounts of the old time life of various Indian tribes of the Pacific northwest coast, including chapters on the Tlingit, Kwakiutl, Tsimshian, Coast Salish and Nootka.
The Power of promises: rethinking Indian treaties in the Pacific Northwest
Call Number: Available at Western Library Wilson 4C - Northwest Collection E78.N77 P68 2008
Schooling of the Lummi Indians between 1855-1956
Call Number: Wilson 4C - Northwest Collection E99.L95 N85
The Swinomish totem pole: tribal legends
Call Number: Western Library Wilson 4C - Northwest Collection E99.S21 S25
Publication Date: 1938
Also at: Archives & Special Collections--Special Collections Rare Book Collection E99.S21 S25
To Fish in Common: the ethnohistory of Lummi Indian salmon fishing by Boxberger, Daniel L., 1950-
Call Number: Available at Western Library Wilson 4C - Northwest Collection E99.L95 B68 2000
Also @ Archives & Special Collections--Special Collections The Western Collection Boxberger, D.L.
& @ Archives & Special Collections--Archives Building Center for Pacific Northwest Studies Reference Room E99.L95 B68 2000
Traders' Tales: narratives of cultural encounters in the Columbia Plateau, 1807-1846 by Vibert, Elizabeth, 1962-
Call Number: Available at Western Library Wilson 4C - Northwest Collection E78.C63 V52 1997
Also @ Archives Building--Washington State Archives--NW Regional Branch Reference Room E78.C63 V52 1997

"As the earliest "ethnographic" accounts of the Native peoples of northern North America, fur-trade records have long been mined for data by legal researchers, historians, and anthropologists. Traders' Tales provides the first sustained critical analysis of these fascinating historical documents."
Ways of the Lushootseed People: ceremonies & traditions of northern Puget Sound First People.
Call Number: Available at Archives & Special Collections--Archives Building Center for Pacific Northwest Studies
Reference Room E99.S21 W39 2001

Databases

Western Libraries provides access to a wide variety of article and research databases (a WWU log-in is required). In addition to the examples listed below, please see the Libraries' online guide to Databases A-Z and/or ask staff at the Libraries' Research Consultation Desk for assistance. On campus access only for community users. The WWU community may access on or off campus.

America: History and Life [EBSCO]
An index of over 1,800 journals from 1895 to the present on the history and life of the United States and Canada. Includes citations and links to books and media reviews.

Databases for American Cultural Studies

EBSCO Multi-Database Search
Search all EBSCO databases at once, or click "choose databases" to customize the databases included in your search.

Ethnic News Watch
Ethnic NewsWatch is available as two resources, Ethnic NewsWatch™, which is a current collection, and Ethnic NewsWatch: A History™, which is an historical collection.
Ethnic NewsWatch™, covers 1990 to present and includes newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press, providing researchers access to essential, often overlooked perspectives with national and regional coverage. Ethnic NewsWatch™ is devoted to presenting multi-ethnic and multi-cultural publications in one resource. Coverage begins in 1990 and is updated daily with new content.
Ethnic NewsWatch: A History™, the historical file covering the years 1959-1989, offers a rare collection of over 30 full-text titles, focusing on African American, Hispanic American, and Native American presses from 1959-1989.
more...less...
On campus access only for community users. The WWU community may access on or off campus.

JSTOR [ITHAKA]
A multi-disciplinary full-text database of articles from many scholarly journals. Content available is usually 1-5 years behind the most recently published journal article. Also contains some current journals and books.