American Indian Newspapers

A rich collection, American Indian Newspapers (AIN), offers a unique look at how news was reported by and to Native American communities across the US and Canada over the course of the last two centuries. Adam Matthew contacted hundreds of newspaper publishers and tribal councils to find those willing to enter into digitization agreements for sharing their collections in this central database. The end result is 45 titles covering the years from 1828 to 2016 in such areas as Alaska, British Columbia, Hawaii, Georgia, North Carolina, and various states across central and western US—43 different publication locations in all. Along with English language newspapers are titles published in the Chinuk Wawa, Dakota, Diné Bizaad, Lakota, Sm’algyax, and Ōlelo Hawai‘i languages. Notable titles include Cherokee Phoenix (Cherokee Advocate) and Cherokee Voices, Hopi Action News, Navajo Times, and Osage News. Many of the titles began publication in the turbulent 1970s and so reflect the voices of more contemporary Native American tribes and communities and topics that mattered to them, at both the national and local levels. Among these topics are tribal laws and elections, land rights, sovereignty, environmentalism, the preservation of local culture and language, and political activism and protest. Older newspapers provide a unique take on historical events and local political and cultural happenings among various tribes. AIN offers a unique, firsthand perspective on indigenous life and culture and will be a rich resource for programs supporting Native American studies.