LibGuides: Native American and Indigenous Studies: Primary Collections

Special Collections at Brown

This section provides a sampling of primary source collections located at several libraries across Brown's campus, including the John Hay Library and the John Carter Brown Library.

Visit the Collections A-Z list for a complete list of named collections held by Brown University libraries.

Hall-Hoag collection of dissenting and extremist printed propaganda
Contains documents representing a broad spectrum of militant political, social and religious dissent in the United States, from the post-World War II period to the present.
Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays
Although it has not been separated out as a distinct category, the Harris Collection includes work by a wide range of Indigenous American poets and playwrights of the 19th and 20th centuries, comprising small press publications and broadsides that include the work of Indigenous American visual artists in addition to publications produced by the mainstream press. These items can be readily identified by author or title in BruKnow by using the facets (found to the left of the list of search results) to refine your search.
Starred Book Collection
The Hay Library's general collection of rare books includes many prose works by Indigenous American authors, as well as materials produced in or about Indigenous American languages. It is particularly strong on source materials for the 19th century.
William Gerald McLoughlin papers
Professor William Gerald McLoughlin taught history at Brown University from 1954-1992 and was an active and vocal participant professionally and personally in all of the issues and events during those years: freedom of speech, civil rights, racial equality, gender equality (Louis Lamphere sex discrimination case), nuclear energy, improving the Providence education system, the Vietnam War, divestment from South Africa, and US intervention in Nicaragua during the 1980s.
Stephen Mopope Paintings
Original paintings by Stephen Mopope, one of the Kiowa Five artists, found in the Hay Library. These have also been digitized.

A video interview with Vanessa Paukeigope Jennings, Mopope's grand-daughter, discussing Mopope's work as an artist and Kiowa life in Oklahoma during the mid-20th century, was filmed at the Hay Library in October 2017.

Indigenous History Materials at the John Carter Brown Library
The JCB's collection of 50,000 rare books, maps and manuscripts encompasses more than two hundred languages and spans over three centuries of early American history. A sampling of thematically-grouped Indigenous history materials is accessible here.

Additional links to primary collections relative to Indigenous history that are available at the JCB can be found on the databases page of this research guide.

Samuel Wyllys Papers
A collection of papers compiled by Samuel Wyllys (1631-1709), a Connecticut magistrate and public official who served from 1654 to 1684.