Center for Native American and Indigenous Research

The Center for Native American and Indigenous Research (CNAIR) promotes innovative uses of the Library’s collections to support Indigenous communities' priorities and scholarship.

The Center for Native American and Indigenous Research (CNAIR) at the APS Library & Museum works with Indigenous communities throughout the Americas and with campus- and community-based scholars in many disciplines and traditions. Its goal is to assist people in finding and utilizing the extensive archival collections at the Library and Museum of the APS in innovative ways that honor Indigenous knowledge, cultivate scholarship, and strengthen languages and cultural traditions.

We express our thanks for the past and ongoing generosity of numerous Indigenous communities and individuals who have offered the guidance and collaborations that have made this work possible.

Open to Collaborate

CNAIR is committed to the development of new modes of collaboration, engagement, and partnership with Indigenous peoples for the care and stewardship of past and future heritage collections.

(What is this notice? Read more here.)

CNAIR Mission Statement

Work with Indigenous Communities

Wampum Belt ceremony — Rick Hill (right) of the Indigenous Knowledge Centre at Six Nations Polytechnic presenting a wampum belt to Brian Carpenter (center) of the APS, with Keat Murray (left) of California Univ. of Pennsylvania, to mark the beginning of a Digital Knowledge Sharing partnership in 2014. View Rick Hill explaining the meaning of the wampum belt.

The heart of CNAIR’s mission is working with community-based scholars, knowledge keepers, teachers, and tribal organizations to reconnect collections to communities in innovative and collaborative ways.

We call this approach Digital Knowledge Sharing. Since its founding in 2014, CNAIR has worked directly with over 250 Indigenous communities and nations throughout North America. These efforts focus on:

Enhancing access by providing digital copies of APS materials at no cost to cultural centers, archives, language programs, and schools to support initiatives that are community priorities.
Cultivating collaborative relationships with communities to co-steward APS collections, based upon our shared values of preserving the knowledge of the past for the sake of benefiting future generations.
Seeking guidance on ways to represent the content of the collections in more accurate, appropriate, and meaningful ways.
Protecting culturally sensitive information through the APS’s Protocols for the Treatment of Indigenous Materials and guidance from communities of origin.

Download

APS Protocols for the Treatment of Indigenous Materials (212471 B)

History of APS Archival Initiatives for Indigenous Collections, 2008-2019 (465282 B)

Collections

Learn more about our collections here

The collections of the American Philosophical Society's (APS) Library & Museum contain material related to the languages, cultures, histories, and continuity of more than 650 different Indigenous peoples, primarily in North and Central America.

To learn how to explore our collections, request materials, or donate new materials, click here.

Explore the Indigenous Subject Guide

Fellowships and Internships

The Center for Native American and Indigenous Research supports community- and campus-based projects related to cultural and language vitality, Indigenous self-determination, and Native American and Indigenous Studies through a variety of funding opportunities.

These include academic residential fellowships and internships based at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, as well as non-residential individual and group fellowships intended for community-oriented projects and goals.

Events and Programming

The Center for Native American and Indigenous Research collaborates with colleagues throughout the APS's Library & Museum to organize international conferences, public lectures, family and adult programming, and major exhibitions highlighting projects in or aligned with Native American and Indigenous Studies.

Indigenous Learning Forum

Thursdays, September-May, 3-4 pm ET

For more information about our Indigenous Learning Forum (formerly the Indigenous Studies Seminar Series) visit the forum website.

Indigenous Learning Forum

Learn more about the recent CNAIR 2024 Conference

Land Acknowledgment

The American Philosophical Society resides in Lenapehoking, the past, present, and ongoing homeland of the Lenape people. The APS acknowledges with respect their continued presence and perseverance, and expresses its sincere thanks for the past and ongoing generosity of numerous Indigenous communities and individuals who have offered their guidance, expertise, and opportunities for collaboration.

CNAIR News and Updates

The Right to Tell

Tia Hunt

November 4, 2024

Announcing our 2024-2025 Fellowship Cohort

American Philosophical Society

June 3, 2024

Rehousing Wire Recordings

Paul Sutherland

January 22, 2024

Featured Fellow: Ruth Matamoros (2022 Mellon NASI Predoctoral Fellow)

Ruth H. Matamoros Mercado

November 20, 2023

CNAIR

Native American Scholars Initiative

Discover NASI Fellowship opportunities

The 2024 DKS and intern cohort, with APS staff

The Mellon Foundation Native American Scholars Initiative (NASI) fosters the development of the next generation of Indigenous and allied students and scholars. NASI seeks applicants for predoctoral, postdoctoral, and short-term research fellowships open to campus- and community-based scholars at all stages of their careers, especially Native American scholars in training, tribal college and university faculty members, and other scholars working closely with Native communities on projects.

On September 21-25, 2020, CNAIR hosted a conference sponsored by the Native American Scholars Initiative, reflecting new and emerging scholarship in Native American and Indigenous Studies and allied fields: "Relationships, Reciprocity, and Responsibilities: Indigenous Studies in Archives and Beyond." Videos of the presentations are now available on the conference page.

NASI Conference: "Relationships, Reciprocity, and Responsibilities: Indigenous …

CNAIR Funding Opportunities

Phillips Fund for Native American Research

Advisory Board and Consulting Scholars

CNAIR Advisory Board

Regna Darnell: Distinguished University Professor, Western Ontario University; American Philosophical Society Member.

Louise Erdrich (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa): Author; American Philosophical Society Member.

Matthew L.M. Fletcher (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa): Harry Burns Hutchins Collegiate Professor of Law & Professor of American Culture, University of Michigan; American Philosophical Society Member.

James E. Francis, Sr. (Penobscot): Tribal Historian and Director of Cultural & Historical Preservation, Penobscot Nation

Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee): President, Morning Star Institute; American Philosophical Society Member.

Eric Hemenway (Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians): Director of Repatriation, Archives and Records, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Michigan.

Susan Hill (Mohawk, Six Nations): Director of Centre for Indigenous Studies; Associate Professor, Indigenous Studies & History, University of Toronto.

Robert J. Miller (Eastern Shawnee): Willard H. Pedrick Distinguished Research Scholar, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University; Chief Justice for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe Court of Appeals; American Philosophical Society Member.

Jennifer O'Neal (Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde): Assistant Professor, Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies, University of Oregon.

Jeremy A. Sabloff: Anthropologist; APS Member; Member of National Academy of Sciences; External Professor, Emeritus and Past President, Santa Fe Institute, New Mexico; Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania.

Vince Schiffert (Tuscarora): Teacher and Historian, Tuscarora Nation.

Scott Manning Stevens (Akwesasne Mohawk Nation): Historian; Associate Professor and Director, Native American Studies Program at Syracuse University; Former Director of the Newberry Library’s D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies, Chicago.

Denise Zuni (Pueblo of Isleta): Attorney, Sh’eh Wheef Law Offices, Albuquerque, NM.

Elders and Founding Scholars

Tom Belt (Cherokee Nation): Traditional Knowledge Keeper; Cherokee Language Program Coordinator (retired), Western Carolina University.

Wendy Bissell (Tuscarora): Traditional Knowledge Keeper; Certified Specialist Nurse Practitioner at Niagara Family Medicine Associates.

Regna Darnell: Distinguished University Professor, Western Ontario University; General Editor, Franz Boas Papers: Documentary Edition; American Philosophical Society Member.

T.J. Holland (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians): Cultural Resources Manager, Kituwah Preservation and Education Program; Head of EBCI Internal Review Board, Cherokee, North Carolina.

Robert J. Miller (Eastern Shawnee): Professor of Law, Sandra Day O’Connor Law School, Arizona State University; Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals of the Grand Ronde Tribe, Oregon; American Philosophical Society ember.

Denise Zuni (Pueblo of Isleta): Attorney, Sh’eh Wheef Law Offices, Albuquerque, NM.

Consulting Scholars

Angie Bain (Nlaka'pamux, Lower Nicola Indian Band): Researcher, Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs.

Marge Bruchac (Abenaki): Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania.

Alan Burdette: Director of Archives of Traditional Music and EVIA Digital Archive Project, Indiana University.

Lisa Conathan: Head of Special Collections, Williams College Libraries.

Alan Corbiere (M’Chigeeng First Nation): Assistant Professor, Department of History, York University.

Rosanna Dent: Graduate Student, History of Science and Technology department, University of Pennsylvania.

Joshua Garrett-Davis: Assistant Curator, Autry Museum of the American West.

Denise Green: Assistant Professor, Department of Fiber Science and Apparel Design, Cornell University.

Rob Hancock (Métis): Adjunct Assistant Professor, Office of Indigenous Academic and Community Engagement, University of Victoria.

Eric Hemenway (Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians): Director of Repatriation, Archives and Records, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Michigan.

Montgomery Hill (Tuscarora): Assistant Professor of Indigenous Studies, University of Buffalo.

Juliet Larkin-Gilmore: Graduate Student, Department of History, Vanderbilt University.

Lisa Leffler: Director, Culturally-Based Native Health Programs, Western Carolina University.

Diana Marsh: Assistant Professor of Archives and Digital Curation at the University of Maryland's College of Information Studies (iSchool)

Maureen Matthews: Curator of Ethnology (retired), Manitoba Museum.

Mia McKie (Tuscarora): Clinical Assistant Professor of Indigenous Studies, University of Buffalo.

Sarah Moritz: Graduate Student, Department of Anthropology, McGill University.

Keat Murray: Assistant Professor, Department of English, California University of Pennsylvania.

Deanna Nicolson (Kwakwaka’wakw): Language Programs Director, Nawalakw.

Marianne Nicolson (Kwakwaka’wakw): Artist and researcher, Musgamagw Dzawada'enuxw First Nation.

Ryan Nicolson (Kwakwaka’wakw): Graduate Student, Department of Anthropology, University of Victoria.

Conor McDonough Quinn: Department of Linguistics, University of Southern Maine.

Thompson Smith: Coordinator of Tribal History and Ethnogeography Projects, Séliš-Ql̓ispé Culture Committee, Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes.

Joanne Weinholtz (Tuscarora): Culture Teacher (retired), Tuscarora School.

Isaiah Lorado Wilner: Postdoctoral Fellow, Mahindra Humanities Center, Harvard University.

Danny Zborover: Head: Americas Section, British Museum.