This guide offers resources and materials that explore Native American cultures and traditions. Books (print and e-books), media, and Native American authors are included as well as art and music resources and selected conversations via Podcasts.
Addison Karl
American-born, Chickasaw & Choctaw Artist, Addison Karl has garnered experiences over a journey that has lasted more than a decade. His work attempts “to expand the viewer’s understanding of the context, structures & surfaces they inhabit adding life with his work & aiming towards a meticulous harmony & balance between that and the pre-existing environment.”
Man’s Dance Apron – McClung Museum
c. 1890–1910, Ojibwe, White Earth Indian Reservation, Minnesota, Fabric and beads. Men in the western Great Lakes tribe celebrated their identity and cultural heritage through formal attire, which was worn only during important social events. This dance apron is part of that formal regalia and is decorated with maple leaves, a favored motif, and plants stages of plant buds, blossoms, and fruit. Gift of Virginia and Robert Dunlap, 2006.
R. C. Gorman was a Navajo artist. His paintings are primarily of Native American women and characterized by fluid forms and vibrant colors, though he also worked in sculpture, ceramics, and stone lithography. Gorman used abstract forms and shapes to create his own unique, personal realistic style, recognizable to all who are acquainted with his work. He was also an avid lover of cuisine, authoring four cookbooks, called Nudes and Food.
Bear Mask, c. 1970, Adam Welch (Eastern Band Cherokee Indian, 1925–1985), Buckeye wood and leather. Adam Welch is a Cherokee artist well-known for his masks, and carvings of bears, ducks, and birds. Here, he portrays the bear in the smooth, elegant, clean lines typical of his carvings. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frank J. Breunig, Jr., 2019.
Bernadine George (Eastern Band Cherokee Indian, 1944–2016), Ceramic. A noted Cherokee ceramicist, she is particularly known for helping to revive the ancient stamped pottery tradition in which carved wooden paddles are used to stamp decorative designs on clay. Gift of Jeff Chapman, 2019.
Shan Goshorn (1957-2018) was an Eastern Band Cherokee artist, who lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her multi-media artwork expresses human rights issues, especially those that affect Native American people today. Goshorn used different media to convey her message, including woven paper baskets, silversmithing, painting, and photography.
Zoë Marieh Urness is a Tlingit Alaskan Native whose portraits of modern Natives in traditional regalia and settings, aim to send a message; “We are here and we are thriving, through our traditions”. Educated at Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA, Zoe’s current project focuses exclusively on sharing beautiful, powerful images of Indigenous Americans, and the lands and traditions they hold dear
GARY STROUTSOS: World flute artist and storyteller
Gary Stroutsos is well known for his haunting work on the Native American Flute, and is acknowledged to have made a significant contribution to the preservation of American Indian music and culture. Stroutsos has had the rare opportunity to journey into the indigenous cultures and communities of North America, where he learned how to play the Native American Flute.
Featuring the Ojibway, Menominee and Winnebago tribes. Its repertoire includes traditional song styles as well as new songs written in traditional style— recorded in July 1990.
The Pueblo Indians in Story, Song, and Dance
Swift Eagle, a Pueblo storyteller, singer, and dancer, offers a glimpse into the culture of the Pueblo Indians. Included is a performance of the ancient legend “The Bear Boy.”
Zuni Sunrise by Gary Stroutsos
Gary Stroutsos plays Zuni Sunrise at the Magic Valley Flute Festival in June 2009 with William Hoshal and Vince Chafin. Produced by Brent Haines of Woodsounds Flutes.
Rumble : The Indians Who Rocked the World
Tells the story of a profound, essential, and, until now, missing chapter in the history of American music: the Indigenous influence. Featuring musical icons Charley Patton, Mildred Bailey, Link Wray, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Jimi Hendrix, Jesse Ed Davis, Robbie Robertson, Redbone, Randy Castillo, and Taboo.
Healing Songs of The American Indians
These recordings of medicine men, from a diverse representation of tribes, are singing and chanting songs delivered to them in dreams or visions by external powers and spirits, that they used to heal the sick.
This is a collection of field recordings of various tribal dances from the Great Plains and American Southwest. Liner notes detail each of the dances, though the names of the performers, dates, and locations of the performances are not specified.
Learning from Native Stories and Voices
Guide to resources exploring Native American culture and traditions. This guide provides a variety of materials to explore.
Eastern Band of the Cherokee in North Carolina
Guide to resources for the study of the Cherokee. Resources created after the mid-19th century are limited to the Eastern Band of the Cherokee in North Carolina.
Native American Law Students Association
The mission of the Native American Law Students Association at UT Law (NALSA) is to promote knowledge of American Indian law and issues in the legal profession and strives to encourage American Indians to enter the legal profession.
Natalie Welch, a member of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians conceived the podcast Creative Native to promote and serve the Native American community with creative stories, strategy and solutions. Episodes 1 – 10 focus on Native Athletes.
Is a podcast hosted by Matika Wilbur (Swinomish and Tulalip) and Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation) to explore our relationships— relationships to land, to our creatural relatives, and to one another.
With over half a million listeners worldwide, the native trailblazers is a weekly radio program dedicated to showcasing the amazing contributions of Native American, first nations and all other indigenous trailblazers all over the world!
Native American Calling (Podcast)
Is a live call-in program linking public radio stations, the Internet and listeners together in a thought-provoking national conversation about issues specific to Native communities.
Hosted by Rebecca Nagle, an Oklahoma journalist and citizen of the Cherokee Nation, this podcast will provide an in depth look at how a cut and dry murder case opened an investigation into half the land in Oklahoma and the treaty rights of five tribes.
Is the radio space for Indigenous community, culture, and conversation that takes you straight into Indigenous Canada, from Halifax to Haida Gwaii, from Shamattawa to Ottawa, introducing listeners to the storytellers, culture makers and community shakers from across the country. This seasons host Falen Johnson is Mohawk and Tuscarora (Bear Clan) from Six Nations Grand River Territory. She is a writer and podcaster.
Partnership With Native Americans is a nonprofit organization committed to championing hope for a brighter future for Native Americans living on remote, isolated and impoverished reservations. Collaborating for nearly 30 years with our reservation partners, we provide consistent aid and services for Native Americans with the highest need in the U.S.
Treuer, A., & Treuer, D. (1998). A Day in the Life of Ojibwe. Minnesota History56 (4), 172–174.
Anton Treuer: Author, Speaker, Trainer, Professor antontreuer.com