Databases
Many databases have digitized primary sources.
- American Indian Histories and Cultures (16th-20th C.; Adam Matthew)Peoples of North and Central America. Materials include manuscripts, illustrations, newspapers, books, photos and maps.
- American Indians and the American West (1809-1971; Proquest History Vault)The database contains a large variety of collections from the U.S. National Archives, a series of collections from the Chicago History Museum, as well as selected first-hand accounts on Indian Wars and westward migration.
- American West (1722-1939; Adam Matthew)Full text of manuscripts, maps, ephemeral material related to the American west.
- Indigenous Peoples: North America, Parts 1 and 2Includes correspondence, pamphlets, draft legislation, manuscripts, monographs, newspapers, photographs, motion pictures, images of artwork, the papers of Indian Rights Association founder Herbert Welsh and more.
- North American Indian Drama (20th C.; Alexander Street Press)Full text plays from American Indian and First Nation playwrights. More than half of the works are previously unpublished, and hard to find, representing groups such as Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Pembina Chippewa, Ojibway, Comanche, Cree, Navajo, Rappahannock, and others.
- North American Indian Thought and Culture (Alexander Street Press)Resources include autobiographies, biographies, Indian publications, oral histories, personal writings, photographs, drawings, and audio files. Biographies include works on Quanah Parker, Dennis Banks, Susan La Flesche Picotte, Crowfoot, Peter Pitchlynn, Sacajawea, Black Elk, Standing Buffalo, and others.
- Oklahoma Digital Prairie (1800s-present; State of Oklahoma)Documents, photographs, newspapers, reports, pamphlets, posters, maps and audio/visual content.
- Overland Journeys: Travels in the West (1800-1880; Gale)Selections from the bibliographies, The Plains and Rockies: A Critical Bibliography of Exploration, Adventure, and Travel in the American West, 1800-1865 in the American West, 1800-1865 and The Trail West: A Bibliography-Index to Western.
Free Digital Sources
The Oklahoma Historical Society has links to Oklahoma resources that might be used as primary sources.
To find material from other libraries and organizations, try a search in Google with the phrase "digital collections" (including the quotation marks) and keywords that describe your topic. See this search on Indian Territory, for example.
Local Catalog
Try using your topic and one of these keywords in the Local Catalog to find primary sources.
- archival materials
- correspondence
- diaries
- interviews
- manuscripts
- papers
- personal narratives
- sources
For example, see the results you get with this search: Oklahoma and correspondence.