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A map of Europe that shows the battles fought by Native Americans during the First World War.
The North American Indian in the World War. United States, Adjutant-General's Office, 1925. Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress.

Native Americans in the First World War and the Fight for Citizenship

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The Library of Congress is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the United States participation in World War I with an exhibit titled “Echoes of the Great War: American Experiences of World War I.” The exhibit examines the upheaval of World War I as Americans confronted it. Maps from the Geography and Map Division are included, as well as prints, photographs, manuscripts, and other rotating materials from the collections of the Library of Congress.

While searching through our collections for maps to use for display in the exhibit, I found one among our uncatalogued holdings that caught my attention. As the title states, it is a map presenting the role of North American Indians in the World War. The map was published by the Office of the Adjutant General of the Army in 1925. The text also indicates that the map was compiled and drawn by Vladimir Sournin, the “author of engineering map of the Panama Canal.” An image of the map is featured at the top of this post.

The map was displayed in the first rotation of the exhibit in April 2017. In