A New Digital Guide to Native American and Indigenous Collections at the American Philosophical Society

FAIN: PW-226819-15

American Philosophical Society (Philadelphia, PA 19106-3309)
Timothy B. Powell (Project Director: June 2014 to June 2016)
Patrick K. Spero (Project Director: June 2016 to December 2019)

The creation of a comprehensive digital guide for improved access to the library’s archival collections, both print and audio recordings, of Native American language, history, and culture. The collections amount to 1,250 linear feet of manuscripts and images, including the papers of some of the most important linguists, anthropologists, and ethnographers of the 20th century, and recordings totaling 3,100 hours.

The American Philosophical Society Library is the repository for one of the nation’s most substantial and significant collections of records documenting Native American life, culture, and languages. The APS proposes to create a comprehensive digital Guide to these collections in order to (1) provide improved access to these resources for traditional humanities scholars and wider publics, including in particular a newly identified, highly engaged and expanding user community of Native Americans; (2) to insure that these collections are arranged and described consistent with best practices and standards; and (3) to continue to develop the essential operational materials and capacities necessary for the anticipated formal opening of the Library’s nascent Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies in 2018.