LibGuides: HIST 2210: North American Indigenous Peoples: Government Documents

Start With These Databases

BGSU Libraries Catalog
Start by searching this catalog to see if BGSU owns the document. All of the documents in our Canadian, Ohio, and Bowling Green documents collections have been cataloged. However, not all U.S. government documents have been cataloged. You will also find links to online government information in the catalog.
OhioLINK Central Catalog
If BGSU doesn't own the document, try the OhioLINK Central Catalog. It contains the holdings of the libraries at more than 80 colleges and universities throughout Ohio, many of which have government documents collections. You will also find links to online government information in the catalog.

Finding Documents in the Library

With the exception of some periodical titles, federal publications are arranged on the shelf by an alphanumeric system called the Superintendent of Documents Classification Scheme (SuDocs).

Letters stand for the publishing agency, for instance

A for Agriculture
C for Commerce
L for Labor
Pr for President
and so forth

The numbers on the top line of the call number file differently than the Dewey or LC collections. The number following the period is a whole number NOT A DECIMAL.

C 3.9 .nine files before
C 3.44 .forty-four, which files before
C 3.223 .two hundred-twenty-three

Useful Government Sources on the Internet

American Indian Treaties Portal (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
American Memory (Library of Congress)
The American Memory Project is a very rich source of full text resources about American history and culture.
American Presidency Project
Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs (HathiTrust)
Includes annual reports 1810-1910, with some years missing.
Avalon Project at Yale Law School: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy
Includes treating with Native Americans and statutes that concern them.
Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates 1774-1875
Condition of the Indian Tribes
U.S. Congressional Report from 1865.
Contributions to North American Ethnology, v. I-VII, IX (Biodiversity Heritage Library)
Correspondence on the Emigration of Indians 1831-1833 (Serial Set 23d Congress: Senate Document No. 512)
This 5 volume set includes voluminous correspondence about the Trail of Tears.
Documents Relating to Indian Affairs (1801-1932)
Treaties and related documents; also the annual reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs (1826-1932)
Early Recognized Treaties with American Indian Nations (University of Nebraska Lincoln)
Recently added to the site, this provides easy access to those texts fashioned between 1778 and 1868.
Eastern bank of Cherokees of North Carolina (1892)
Eastern Cherokee Applications of the U.S. Court of Claims (Internet Archive)
Thousands of page of documents pertaining to applications for a share of the money designated by Congress on June 30, 1906 that was to go to Eastern Cherokees.
Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory: The Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole Nations (1894)
Handbook of Federal Indian Law (1941)
The 1941 comprehensive to federal law effecting Native Americans; written by Felix S. Cohen and published by the U.S. Interior Dept.
Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights: Native Americans
Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties (Kappler's)
"...Compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler, is an historically significant, seven volume compilation of U.S. treaties, laws and executive orders pertaining to Native American Indian tribes. The volumes cover U.S. Government treaties with Native Americans from 1778-1883 (Volume II) and U.S. laws and executive orders concerning Native Americans from 1871-1970 (Volumes I, III-VII)."
Indian Education and Civilization: A Report Prepared in Answer to Senate Resolution of February 23, 1885
Indian Land Cessions in the United States 1784-1894
The Schedule of Indian Land Cessions subtitle notes that it "indicates the number and location of each cession by or reservation for the Indian tribes from the organization of the Federal Government to and including 1894, together with descriptions of the tracts so ceded or reserved, the date of the treaty, law or executive order governing the same, the name of the tribe or tribes affected thereby, and historical data and references bearing thereon." This site also includes maps.
Indians at Work
A periodical issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1933-1945.
Indians in the War (1945)
Published by the U.S. Department of the Interior, 1945
Moqui Pueblo Indians of Arizona and Pueblo Indians of New Mexico (1893)
Native American Constitutions and Legal Materials (Library of Congress)
Papers of the War Department 1784-1800
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States (University of Michigan)
Report on Indians Taxed and Indians Not Taxed in the United States (Except Alaska) (1890 Census)
A very early U.S. government attempt to count all Native Americans.
Treaties Between the United States and Native Americans (Avalon Project; Yale Law School)
The Avalon Project provides full test of some treaties.