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Preparation for print and digital publication of fifteen volumes of previously unpublished field notes about four native tribes of the American Great Plains, collected by anthropologists in the 19th and early 20th centuries. (36 months)

Focusing on a large body of unpublished works that document cultures of four American Indian tribes of the Great Plains--Pawnee, Arikara, Hidatsa, and Mandan--these unique documents provide detailed descriptions of those tribes’ cultures and languages recorded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the words of prominent members who lived those cultures or remembered the words of their elders. By publishing extant documentary records, today’s tribal members will gain sophisticated knowledge and appreciation of their heritage. Scholars will develop a better understanding of native cultures. Although Native Americans are integral to the historical and cultural development of the United States, primary sources describing traditional cultures in native voices are not available. The published record has been filtered through the lens of Western culture. Using these four tribes as representative cases, this project proposes the creation of a new library of Plains Indian cultures.