Canadian Literature - Indigenous Literatures - Digital Collections

Primary sources reflecting the impact of invasion and colonization on Indigenous Peoples in North America, and the intersection of Indigenous and European histories and systems of knowledge in manuscripts, books, newspapers, photographs, motion pictures, images of artwork, and more.

Includes Native stories, legends, and mysteries recorded by white settlers and scholars and published in books and journals.

A bibliographic database containing citations for books, essays, journal articles, and government documents of the United States and Canada, covering all aspects of Indigenous cultures, history, and life.

A digital collection containing documents associated with the existence and the consequences on the various frontiers that arose from the movements of Europeans to North America (as well as Africa and Australasia).

Primary sources represented in the collection are memoirs, speeches, books, pamphlets, and others from the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives Library and other repositories.

A digital collection of rare books published in fourteen different Indigenous languages: Algonquian languages (including Siksika), Chipewyan, Choctaw, Cree, Dakota, Delaware, Gwich’in, Inuktitut, Iroquoian languages, Mi’kmaq, Mohawk, Ojibway, and Tsimshian.

It also includes colonial, provincial and federal government publications, Jesuit relations texts, and an English Canadian literature collection with over 800 works of drama, poetry and fiction, biography and exploration written before 1900.

It also contains early dailies, weeklies, specialized journals and mass-market magazines published up to 1930.

A library of recordings of legends, mystery stories, and oral history of the Omushkegowak or “Swampy Cree” people of the Hudson and James Bay Lowlands of northern Manitoba and Ontario.

Métis historical documents, genealogical information, Hudson’s Bay Company records, Church missionary records, and personal Métis accounts.

The digital collection is a result of collaboration between scholars Brenda Macdougall and Nicole St-Onge (University of Ottawa), Michael Evans (University of British Columbia Okanagan), Chris Andersen (University of Alberta), and Ramon Lawrence (University of British Columbia).

Chronicles traditional Métis history and culture on the Internet and contains a wealth of primary documents—oral history interviews, photographs and various archival documents—in visual, audio and video files.

The digital collection was created by the Gabriel Dumont Institute of Native Studies and Applied Research.

A primary source collection of print journalism from Indigenous Peoples of the United States and Canada dating from 1828 to 2016.

Items include national periodicals, local community news, student publications, and bilingual and Indigenous-language editions in Hawaiian, Cherokee and Navajo languages and others.

Topics covered include the self-determination era and American Indian Movement, education, local news coverage, environmentalism, land rights and cultural representation from an Indigenous perspective. Also included are a photo feature gallery and a series of essays and video interviews.

An annotated list of online libraries housing digitized materials related to Indigenous Peoples of North America, organized geographically.

It contains links to collections not listed in this guide.