American Indian Heritage Collection

Contents: About the Collection | Learn More | The North Carolina Digital Collections | Tech

About the Collection

This collection features items from the State Library of North Carolina’s Digital Collections and online resources NCpedia and ANCHOR that that focus on American Indian tribal cultures, histories, biographies, and legends & folklore. Additionally items from other state agencies such as the American Indian Heritage Commission have been included. These items show the important role American Indian people have had throughout the history of our state. This collection is being released during American Indian Heritage Month as our way to honor the rich history and valuable role American Indian tribes and people hold in our state.

Learn More

Native American Heritage Month came about as a result of efforts by American Indians to have recognition for the significant contributions the people of their tribes had made to the country throughout its history. Acknowledgement of these contributions first began in the 1900s and culminated with George H.W. Bush signing into the law a joint resolution that designated November as National American Indian Heritage Month (also known as Native American Indian Month).

American Indians were the original inhabitants of this country and white colonists would have failed in establishing settlements without the assistance and generosity of people from American Indian tribes. As you’ll see in some of this collections resources, American Indian people have served in the military, worked as diplomats, and worked to preserve the history and culture of their tribe to pass down to younger generations. The collection also provides resources on the different tribes of American Indians that still call North Carolina home.

The North Carolina Digital Collections

The North Carolina Digital Collections (NCDC) contain over 90,000 historic and recent photographs, state government publications, manuscripts, and other resources on topics related to North Carolina. The Collections are free and full-text searchable, and bring together content from the State Archives of North Carolina and the State Library of North Carolina.