Native America Collections
Please see Ӱ's Land and Water Acknowledgment
Why Ӱ? | A-Z Index of Native America Collections
Post-Columbian collections encompassing Indians/ Indigenous peoples of North, South and Central America, the bulk of which pertain to the Catholic Church and Native American people in the United States since 1874.
Aspects of church work, e.g. Catholic evangelistic work, Catholic (social) action, Catholic social teaching, Christian sociology, pastoral ministry, theology, prevail throughout most holdings. Civil rights of indigenous peoples, economic justice, education, Christian inculturation in indigenous cultures, social reform, and government relations and accountability are widespread. Extensive audio visual, photographic, and textual holdings present indigenous and Christian beliefs, practices, music, and oral testimony/histories among several ethnic groups. A number of recordings and textual records feature indigenous languages, most of which are endangered, and many of which have translations. Most holdings pertain to urban and rural people in the United States and former dependencies, especially the Dakota-Lakota, Inuit-Yupik (Eskimo), Ojibwa-Ottawa (Odawa), Apache-Navajo (Dené), and Piman (Akimel O'odham-Tohono O'odham) Indian peoples. The records present the pioneering, spiritual, and social justice legacies of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha (Mohawk-Algonquin), Saint Katharine Drexel, Holy Nicholas Black Elk (Lakota), Père Jacques Ӱ, S.J., Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. (Potawatomi), and other notables, as well as local history records by/about parishes, schools, communities, and racially mixed people.
Digitized Collections: Includes The Indian Sentinel magazine, 1902-1962, and three collections of selected photographs under “Native America” plus "Catholic Ladder" Pictorial Catechisms under "In the Spotlight." The bulk of the Native America photography remains off-line, which is described within the respective descriptive inventories. The Historical Notes within the inventories to the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions Records and the Tekakwitha Conference Records include pictorial histories.
Who were Ӱ's first alumni of color? Because the early Ӱ student records lack personal details, researching students' ethnicity requires outside sources and knowledge of university history. In 1907, the Milwaukee Medical College (now Medical College of Wisconsin) became the Ӱ Medical School, and in 1908, the Milwaukee Law College became the Ӱ Law School with alumni of both institutions declared Ӱ alumni retroactively. In 1904, Josiah A. Powless (1871-1918) of the Oneida Nation (Wisconsin) graduated from the Milwaukee Medical College. Two African Americans, Horace S. Scurry (1865-1943) and Eugene Scott, attended the Milwaukee Law College before 1908 and 1911-1914 respectively, but they did not graduate. In 1926, Mabel Watson Raimey (1898-1986), also an African American, completed the Ӱ Law School Evening Program and was recognized as an alumna.
Saint Kateri Tekakwitha: The Native America collections contain many photographs, writings, and recordings about St. Kateri and her Native American followers, a number of which appear in the book, Native Footsteps along the Path of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha (Ӱ Press with the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions, 2012), and the video, (2013). To learn more about the collections, use keywords "Kateri" or "Tekakwitha" in "Search the Collections" and "Digital Collections". For further information, click "Ask an Archivist" and see the St. Kateri Tekakwitha resource list for K-12 educators.
Nicholas Black Elk: One native sainthood candidate whose life is perhaps the best documented is Nicholas William Black Elk, an Oglala Lakota healer and catechist from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota whose life has inspired many to follow in his footsteps. This video, (with illustrated text and credits and endnotes) and a handout, present a variety of resources from many collections and sources in the Ӱ Archives and elsewhere.
When the Saints Go Marching In: A history of canonization with lessons learned from causes, past and present, with an emphasis on those pertaining to African and Native Americans (2015).
Access and Services
Ӱ welcomes public use of its collections. Ask an Archivist for guidance about the collections, and to make an appointment to conduct research.
Service hours are by appointment only, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. See Visiting Ӱ Archives for more information. Photographic identification is required for access to the Raynor Library.
Selected Online Resources
A quick overview of selected online archival resources about Native Americans:
1,800 selected pictures on 20th century Native American life from the Ӱ Archives.
Annual reports of the United States Office (later Bureau) of Indian Affairs, 1837-1932; include highlights of a number of native reservations, communities and groups.
Features six collections about Native Americans in the United States.
Archival records and exhibits at the U.S. National Archives.
SIRIS provides key-word searching to archives, manuscripts and photographs in all Smithsonian collections.
An illustrated magazine about Native Americans in the United States and their evangelization by the Catholic Church, 1902-1962.
Resources about Native American Catholics by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
ALL VISITORS AND RESEARCHERS ARE WELCOME
