Native American historical influences on the United States, in everything from state names to influences for the U.S. Constitution, are apparent everywhere you look.

Elizabeth Peratrovich, Tlingit Raven moiety, Lukaax.ádi clan, was born on July 4, 1911, to a Tlingit mother who had to give her up for adoption. She was raised by her adoptive parents, Jean and Andrew Wanamaker, in Sitka, Ketchikan, and Klawock, Alaska. Her parents raised her in a traditional Tlingit lifestyle. Her father, who also […]

The following is a guest post by American Folklife Center head of reference, Judith Gray. Staff at the American Folklife Center continue to use new digital tools to support remote discovery and access for our resources by users of all kinds. Whether you are a community scholar, a teacher, an academic researcher, a creative artist, […]

Greetings from Nacotchtank, Piscataway and Pamunkey traditional lands. As the last fiscal year just ended, the Law Library’s Collection Services Division staff are looking back on a successful acquisitions year. It seems like a good time to talk about some of our successes, especially acquisitions related to Indigenous peoples, since yesterday was the day that […]

In Canada today, people are commemorating Orange Shirt Day. This July, the Canadian government passed legislation to create the federal statutory holiday called the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation– also known as Orange Shirt Day, as it was named before the federal holiday was established. Orange Shirt Day is so named because the grandmother […]

Staff at the American Folklife Center continue to use new digital tools to support remote discovery and access for our resources by users of all kinds. Whether you are a community scholar, a teacher, an academic researcher, a creative artist, or a curious consumer of local culture we hope that our geographically-oriented research guides offer […]

The following is a guest post by Louis Myers, the current Librarian-in-Residence at the Law Library of Congress. Louis has authored several blog posts for In Custodia Legis, including New Acquisition: The Trial of Governor Picton, A Case of Torture in Trinidad, Research Guides in Focus – Municipal Codes: A Beginner’s Guide, and Research Guides […]

The ceramics created by ancient Maya potters make for some of the most vibrantly colored objects that survive in the archaeological record of the Americas. John Hessler, curator of the Library's Kislak collection, explains how their distinctive blue color has survived for centuries.

The following is a guest post by Nathan Cross, VHP Archivist and primary author of VHP’s Navajo Code Talkers LibGuide. The Veterans History Project (VHP) is pleased to announce a new resource designed to introduce VHP’s holdings related to the veterans known as Navajo Code Talkers. These veterans, Native Americans who served in the Pacific […]

Today the Veterans History Project (VHP) launches a new online exhibit, part of our Experiencing War web feature series. Entitled “Legacies of Service: Celebrating Native Veterans,” the exhibit explores the lives and service experiences of 18 Native veterans who served in conflicts from World War II to Iraq and Afghanistan. Given the treatment of their […]