Resource Guides

Pathfinders

Access through Library Computers

Books in the Stratton Taylor Library are listed in the Online Catalog.

Some good Subject Headings are:

• Indians of North America – Folklore         
• Indians of North America in Literature
• Indians of North America -- Legends               

Full text digitized articles from many journals can be found in Academic Source Premier (an EBSCO database). Newspapers published by various American Indian tribes are available full text in Ethnic Newswatch database.  Other databases may include content about American Indians, approached from the academic discipline which produced each database.

Ask a librarian for help or sign up for a research consultation if the information not easily found.

Books

Some call number areas for browsing are:

Magazines and Journals

Periodicals often contain good articles on subjects of interest. The presence of the author’s name and credentials, bibliographic references, tables or charts, and significant length are  usually some of the signs of a “serious” article.

Some magazines and journals specific to Native American Studies are:

• American Indian Art Magazine
• American Indian Quarterly
• American Indian Culture and Research Journal
• Native Peoples
• MELUS   [multi ethnic literature of the United States]

Reference Books

overview, specific facts, and leads to further sources:

• use Table of Contents
• use Index
• use the arrangement of the book

Literature

Contemporary Literary Criticism (standing order – see index at end of latest volume for specific entries on your chosen author. Well over 100 volumes and growing…   Ref PN771.C59  

Native North American Literature, ed. J. Witalec, Gale, 1994. Ref PS508.I5N38 1994   

American Indian History

Ready Reference: American Indians, ed. H. Markowitz, Salem Press, 1995.   3-volume set, with entries alphabetical, “Trickster” under T, etc. Vol.3 has a list of entries by category (page xix in the back of the volume).  Ref E76.2.A45 1995 

Native North American Almanac, ed. Duane Champagne, Gale, 1994.   “Native American Mythology,” pp. 635-638.  Ref E76.2.N35 1994  

Religion and Mythology

Dictionary of Native American Mythology, by S.D. Gill and I.F. Sullivan.  ABC-Clio, 1992.   “Creation,” “Migrations,” (see refs) “Tricksters.” Ref E98.R3 G46 1992

New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology. Librairie Larousse, 1959.   “Mythology of the Two Americas,” pages 423-436. Ref BL311.L33 1968

Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. M. Eliade, Macmillan, 1987.   “North American Indians,” and “North American Religions: Mythic Themes,” both in vol. 9-10. Ref BL31.E46 1993 

Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience, ed. C.H. Lippy & P. Williams. Scribner, 1988.  “Native American Religions,” by Sam D. Gill, vol 1, pp. 137-151. Ref BL2525.E53 1988  

Anthropology and Multi-cultural Approach

Gale Encyclopedia of Multi-Cultural America. Gale, 1995.  Within the article on a selected tribe, there may be a section on religion.    “Cherokee – Religion” p. 277. Other tribes: Choctaw, Creek, Navajo, Apache, Ojibwa, Pueblo, Sioux, Tlingit, Yupiat. E184.A1.G14 1995 

Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology, ed. D. Levinson, M. Ember. Holt, 1996. “Myth,” vol 3 page 827-831. Ref GN307.E52 1966 

Encyclopedia of World Cultures.   Within an entry on a tribe (ie “Cherokee” pp. 60-63, or “Cheyenne,” p. 63-66,), there is a section “Religion and Expressive Culture.” Ref GN307.E53 1991 

Bibliography of Materials

Native American Studies: Books in the Thunderbird Library, Rogers State University, January, 2000. Compiled by Laura Bottoms.  [Reserve] PS508.I5 N37 2000 

Bibliographies Beyond Any One Library

Global Voices, Global Visions: a core collection of multicultural books, by Lyn Miller-Lachman. Bowker, 1995.   “U.S. – Native Americans,” pp. 197-250.  Ref Z5579.M56 1995  

Magazines for Libraries, by Bill Katz & Linda Katz. Bowker, 11th ed., 2001.   “Indians of North America,” is one of the sections in this frequently updated standard reference work.  Ref Z6941.K2 1997 

Selected Circulating Books

Indian Masks and Myths of the West, by Joseph H. Wherry.  Funk & Wagnalls, New York, 1969.  E98.M3W45  

The Red Swan: Myths and Tales of the American Indians, ed. John Bierhorst, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1976.  E98.R3R43 1976  

The Fire Plume: legends of the American Indians, by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, ed. J. Bierhorst.  Dial Press, 1969. PZ8.1.S354 fi 

Tales of the North American Indians, by Stith Thompson. E98.F6 T32 1966 

American Indian Myths and Legends, ed. by Richard Erdoes & Alfonso Ortiz.  E98.F6 T32 1966  

How Chipmunk Got Tiny Feet, retold by Gerald Hausman.  E98.F6 A47 1984

Voices of the Winds: Native American Legends, by Margot Edmonds & Ella E. Clark.  Facts on File, 1989. E98.F6 E26 1989 

A Coyote Reader, by William Bright. University of California Press, 1993. E98.F6 B83 1993 

The Native American Sweat Lodge: history and legends, by Joseph Bruchac. E98.S94 B78 1993 

How Rabbit tricked Otter and other Cherokee trickster stories, told by Gayle Ross.  E99.C5 R66 1994