American Indian Studies: Background Resources

The Center for Native American and Indigenous Research (CNAIR) works with indigenous communities throughout North America and with scholars in many disciplines.

Located at the University of Washington, a community of American Indian, Alaska Native, First Nations, Native Hawaiian, Indigenous, and non-Indigenous scholars dedicated to producing knowledge that promotes the sovereignty, wellness, and understanding of Northwest coastal and plateau tribes/nations and other Indigenous peoples.

The Joseph A. Myers Center is housed at UC Berkeley’s Institute for the Study of Societal Issues (ISSI). The Center’s mission is to provide the people of Indian country with pragmatic research products that can be employed to improve the quality of life for Native Americans throughout the US.

The Institute serves as a forum for the discussion of issues critical to the continuance of Native peoples by individuals both in and outside of the university community, thus providing a significant link to our area’s Native Nations and communities.

The Newberry Library supports and inspires research, teaching, and learning in the humanities. The McNickle Center is one of the Newberry Library’s research centers.

A nonprofit organization representing 57 Northwest tribal governments from Oregon, Idaho, Washington, southeast Alaska, Northern California and Western Montana dedicated to tribal sovereignty and self-determination.

The Encyclopedia of American Indian History brings the story of Native Americans to life from the origins of Native American cultures through the years of colonialism and non-Native expansion to the present.

The National Congress of American Indians, founded in 1944, is the oldest, largest and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization serving the broad interests of tribal governments and communities.

The National Indian Education Association (NIEA) was formed by Native educators in 1969 to encourage a national discourse on Native education.

A diverse and multifaceted cultural and educational enterprise, the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is an active and visible component of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum complex. The NMAI cares for one of the world's most expansive collections of Native artifacts, including objects, photographs, archives, and media covering the entire Western Hemisphere, from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego.

The Native Health Database contains bibliographic information and abstracts of health-related articles, reports, surveys, and other resource documents pertaining to the health and health care of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Canadian First Nations.

A compendium of online materials of about more than 800 indigenous languages of the Western Hemisphere.

explores the interconnectedness of wellness, illness, and cultural life for Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. Visitors will discover how Native concepts of health and illness are closely tied to the concepts of community, spirit, and the land.

The Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (NWIFC) is a natural resources management support service organization for 20 treaty Indian tribes in western Washington.

The Oxford Handbook of American Indian History presents the story of the indigenous peoples who lived-and live-in the territory that became the United States. It describes the major aspects of the historical change that occurred over the past 500 years with essays by leading experts, both Native and non-Native, that focus on significant moments of upheaval and change.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) mission is to: "enhance the quality of life, to promote economic opportunity, and to carry out the responsibility to protect and improve the trust assets of American Indians, Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives."

The Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs promotes the government to government relationship between the State of Washington and Indian Tribes, advocates for the social and economic betterment of all American Indians and Alaska Natives living within Washington State and educates for a greater cultural understanding of the State’s first citizens.

Home of the 29 federally recognized tribes by the United State of America.

A collaboration between units of the UW Libraries and the Ethnic Cultural Council to preserving the historical and cultural record of local ethnic Communities.