Collections and Resources in Honour of National Indigenous Peoples Day

From Edward S. Curtis’s 'The North American Indian' collection at Bruce Peel Special Collections

June 21st is National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada and it is a great opportunity to learn more about Canada's Aboriginal peoples and the many contributions they make to our society. The University of Alberta Libraries is very active in collecting material on Canada's First Nations, Metis and Inuit and we welcome this opportunity to highlight some of them.

Gregory S. Javitch Collection at the Bruce Peel Special Collections is a cornerstone of that library's collection and is comprised of  2,500 volumes related to North and South American Aboriginal peoples and cultures. While some of the books in the Javitch collection are colonial in nature Javitch sought to have a balanced collection. Themes in the collection describe customs, dances and musical traditions for many different cultures. Hundreds of books from the collection are now digitized and available in the Indigenous Peoples: North America database.

Our campus library collections include vast number of print and e-books related to history, health, education, residential schools, juvenile material, teacher resources and innovation within Aboriginal contexts.
For University of Alberta students and staff there are a number of online databases that can provide access to articles,  primary sources, research and Indigenous Knowledge. These include Bibliography of Native North Americans, Indigenous iPortal and Indigenous Peoples of North America.

Another photo from Edward S. Curtis’s 'The North American Indian' collection at Bruce Peel Special Collections

For information and records regarding residential schools, the UAlberta Libraries is one of two dozen institutions with digital access to Canada’s largest collection of material on the residential school system compiled over the lifetime of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Collections  can be access via the library's database search.