Pritzker Legal Research Center: American Indian Law Resources: American Indian Law Resources

What's in this Guide?

This guide gathers resources of use to students in Prof. Zimmerman's American Indian Law course.

Of special interest to Northwestern students:

The 22nd edition of the Bluebook now includes citation rules, examples, and other information sufficient to cite tribal law!

New Rule 22 offers clear, practical guidance on citing the constitutions, ordinances, cases, and statutes of tribal nations, including new sections 22.1, 22.2, and 22.3.
Updates to Rule 21.4, in the Treaties section, now includes instructions for citing treaties with Tribal Nations, including examples of such treaties.
New Table 1.5: Tribal Nations lists all 574 federally recognized Tribal Nations
These rules are available in the Bluepages and the Whitepages.

Why aren't there any federal Indian reservations in Illinois?
A story with interactive timeline discussion the history of native nations in the area that is now Chicagoland. From WBEZ's Curious City.
Northwestern University Land Acknowledgement resources
Details how and why to offer a land acknowledgment while at Northwestern. Includes pronunciations and images.
Warrior Lawyers: defenders of sacred justice : a documentary
A one-hour documentary featuring the personal and professional stories of American Indian Attorneys and Tribal Judges. (NOTE: access limited to NLaw community, email the reference desk law-reference@law.northwestern... for access to this title)

General American Indian Law Resources

Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law
(available on Lexis). A regularly updated and highly regarded treatise on federal Indian law.
Restatement of the law, Law of American Indians
A restatement from the American Law Institute, in its final proposed draft form as of March 30, 2021. Hein's library also contains some earlier drafts as well.
American Indian Law Deskbook
From Westlaw: "a concise, direct, and easy-to-understand handbook on Indian law." This would be a good source for starting points on issues of American Indian Law.
Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: History, Culture, & Law (Hein)
A gigantic collection of primary and secondary sources on American Indian law ranging from the treaties of the Kappler Report to legislative histories of federal legislation and Indian tribal codes. Hein will let you search across the whole collection.
National Indian Law Library
NILL is an essential source for researching American Indian Law. In addition to their valuable collection of Indian law resources, NILL also assists people with their Indian law-related research needs. They have a number of online research guides and offer research assistance via email.

Alaska Natives and American Laws by David S. Case; David A. Voluck
Call Number: MON KFA1705 .C37 2012
ISBN: 9781602231757
Now in its third edition, Alaska Natives and American Laws is still the only work of its kind, canvassing federal law and its history as applied to the indigenous peoples of Alaska. Regarded as the "Cohen's for Alaska natives"

General American Indian Resources

This list of resources about American Indians is organized with the most basic resources and the resources that are most focused on secondary sources first. Those resources that focus on primary source material are listed last. Please see the descriptions for more information.

Oxford Handbook of American Indian History
A good source for basic facts and starting points on questions of history. Groups information by historical eras, major themes (like "treaties and treaty making"), as well as by geography.
American Indian Experience: The American Mosaic (ABC-CLIO)
A good starting point. Essays on historical and contemporary topics including colonial conflict, trade economies, decisive wars, parsing of Native American land enabled by American policy, assimilation, and native claims to land, among other topics.
eHRAF World Cultures
Gathers explanatory essays and primary source materials (mainly published books and articles, and some unpublished manuscripts) on selected cultures or societies around the world. Organized by culture and by subject.
North American Indian Thought and Culture
(choose Northwestern University as your institution) Provides biographies, photos, first person accounts, and other primary source documents.
Indigenous Peoples of North America
This database allows users to trace the history of Native Peoples in North America from colonial relations in the 1600s to twentieth-century issues such as civil rights. Includes manuscript collections, rare books and monographs, newspapers, periodicals, census records, legal documents, maps, drawings and sketches, oral histories, and photos, as well as video content from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. A recent addition adds a near complete record of the Indian Rights Association, 1882–1986, an advocacy organization founded to address Native American interests and rights. The organization was founded by non-natives and has a complicated history involving assimilationist efforts.
Native American Indians, 1645-1819
Billed as "Every Major Book Printed in North America about Native Peoples," this database of "More than 1,600 publications about the relationship between Native Americans and European settlers" lets you search across these works and includes author biographies in order to examine the author's perspective. From a limited timeframe and a Eurocentric perspective.

Relations between U.S. Gov't and Native Nations

Indian Claims Insight (ProQuest)
This resource provides researchers with the opportunity to understand and analyze Native American migration and resettlement throughout U.S. history, as well as U.S. Government Indian removal policies and subsequent actions to address Native American claims. Content includes decisions, transcripts, docket books, journals of the Indian Claims Commission, a judicial panel for relations between the U.S. Government and Native American tribes; and related statutes and congressional publications.
Indigenous Law Research Strategies: Settlement Acts
A Library of Congress article explaining more about settlement acts and offering a research strategy.
ProQuest History Vault - American Indians and the American West (1809-1971)
American Indians and the American West, 1809-1971 features a number of excellent collections on American Indians in the 19th and 20thCentury, with a focus on the interaction among white settlers, the U.S. federal government, and Indian tribes.Included are Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Major Council Meetings of American Indian Tribes.
American Indian Histories and Cultures
The wide range of material included in American Indian Histories and Cultures presents a unique insight into interactions between American Indians and Europeans from their earliest contact, continuing through the turbulence of the American Civil War, the on-going repercussions of government legislation, right up to the civil rights movement of the mid- to late-twentieth century. This resource contains material from the Newberry Library’s extensive Edward E. Ayer Collection; one of the strongest archival collections on American Indian history in the world.
Encyclopedia of American Indian Removal
Presents a realistic depiction of removal as a complicated process that was deeply affected by political, economic, and tribal factors. May be helpful for parsing the history and movement behind the treaties involving a particular nation.
Territorial Papers of the United States, 1764-1953
A historical collection of materials from the State Department and Department of the Interior from when the states were territories. Includes treaty negotiations with native peoples.
Native American Tribal Histories, Series 1-4, 1813-1880
Historical primary source documents written by Bureau of Indian Affairs superintendents about the people they worked with and observed.

This research guide was last revised and updated on 9/10/22

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What's in this Guide?

General American Indian Law Resources

General American Indian Resources

Relations between U.S. Gov't and Native Nations