American Indian Literature

“Sequoyah National Research Center.” University of Arkansas Little Rock. Accessed October 8, 2018.  https://ualr.edu/sequoyah/.

Sequoyah National Research Center, located at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, collects the works of American Indian artists and seeks to represent the perspectives of American Indians.[i] Their website grants any users with an internet connection access to their holdings. Users choose to search within library or archives catalogs and can also choose between “subjects” and “topics” lists. The Tribal Writers Digital Library is a part of the website that covers works by well-known American Indian writers as well as work that may be out of print or hard to find.[ii]

North American Indian Thought and Culture. 1677 to present. (Alexander Street).

Spanning 1677 to the present, North American Indian Thought and Culture contains over one hundred journals, rare books, and two thousand oral histories, and the biographical and bibliographical information of American Indian authors.[i] This database provides a quick search, a “Table of Contents” list of subject headings, or an advanced search using the same subject headings. Under “Peoples” users can search for individuals, such as Linda Hogan, who come from a specific tribe. This database is available through a subscription to Alexander Street.

Bibliography of Native North Americans. Dates of coverage vary. (EBSCOhost).

This resource contains over eighty thousand citations which will lead users to journal articles and secondary sources about American Indian authors, history, and culture spanning from the 1600s to the present.[ii] Using the advanced search, users can narrow their choices down by year, type of media, such as book or journal, and full text articles. An advanced search for peer reviewed full-text articles about “literature” led to six hundred and thirty-six results. To use this database, users must have access to a subscription of EBSCOhost.

JSTOR. Studies in American Indian Literatures. 1980-2018, Vol.4, No.1 – Vol. 30, No.2. Accessed October 6, 2018. https://www.jstor.org/journal/studamerindilite

The JSTOR, short for “journal storage,”[iii] database contains abstracts for over a thousand academic journals.[iv] Using the basic search and the term “American Indian Literature” leads to the journal Studies in American Indian Literatures which spans from 1980-present and is the only journal in the U.S. that solely covers the topic of American Indian literature.[v] Using the “advanced search” option allows users to narrow results to “Content I Can Access.” To access this journal, individuals can pay for a subscription through the University of Nebraska Press, access older articles through affiliation with an organization that has a subscription to JSTOR, or register for a JSTOR account and access up to six free articles a month.

JSTOR. American Indian Quarterly. 1974-present, Vol.1, No.1 – Vol. 30, No.2. Accessed October 6, 2018.

Spanning from the year 1974 to the current day, American Indian Quarterly (AIQ) covers topics in American Indian studies, including book reviews.[vi] Some articles from AIQ can be found on the JSTOR database by selecting “Subject” under the “Browse” tab on the homepage and choosing “American Indian Studies.” Search results can be narrowed from “all content” in JSTOR to results within a specific journal. Accessing AIQ articles requires either a personal subscription through the University of Nebraska Press or affiliation with an institution that has a subscription to JSTOR which only guarantees access to journals within the institution’s agreement. JSTOR provides access to six free articles a month when researchers register for a JSTOR account.

Academic Search Complete. Dates of coverage vary. (EBSCOhost).

The Academic Search Complete database uses several databases to cobble together results, including the America: History and Life and Humanities databases. A basic search for “Orange, Tommy,” a young, upcoming American Indian author, brings up fifty-two results including recently published work and book reviews. Researchers can use the “Choose Databases” option above the search boxes to restrict their search to particular databases. Using the advanced search also allows researchers to narrow their results by document type, language, historical period, and to search for only full text articles. This database is available through personal or institutional subscription.  

The American Indian Experience. Dates of coverage vary. (ABC-CLIO).

The American Indian Experience database features peer-reviewed historical and biographical essays as well as documents and timelines. Using the advanced search option found on the homepage, researchers can search for information by tribe, region, state, and more. For instance, if a user searches for “literature” and narrows the results by selecting the terms “biographies” and “Choctaw” they will discover Louis Owens, an American Indian author who wrote mystery novels and whose own personal story had a tragic ending. This database is available through a personal subscription or affiliation through an organization that subscribes.

[i] Moreno, P. G. “Native American and Indigenous Studies.” University of Texas Libraries. Last modified    September 8, 2017. Accessed October 21, 2018. https://guides.lib.utexas.edu/nais. 

[iv] University of Texas at Austin. “Databases A-Z: J.” University of Texas Libraries. Accessed October 21, 2018. https://guides.lib.utexas.edu/.

[v] ITHAKA. “Studies in American Indian Literatures.” JSTOR. Accessed October 21, 2018. https://www.jstor.org/journal/studamerindilite.

[vi] ITHAKA. “American Indian Quarterly.” JSTOR. Accessed October 21, 2018. https://www.jstor.org/journal/amerindiquar.