Indigenous Art & Media Resources

Aboriginal documentary heritage found in the holdings of Library and Archives Canada (LAC) reflects the exemplary contributions of Aboriginal peoples to this country’s political, social, economic and cultural development. First Nations, Métis and Inuit continue to participate in defining Canada as a nation. Their contributions can be traced over time—from the documentation of early Indigenous mythologies, archaeological finds of bone scrapers in the Yukon, and evidence of bison drives and jumps in Alberta, to today’s award-winning literature and films. This material is available in all types of media and can be accessed on site or through online databases, virtual exhibitions and digitized documents.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day, October 9, 2017, marks the public launch of the newly migrated and updated Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America. AILLA is a digital language archive of recordings, texts, and other multimedia materials in and about the indigenous languages of Latin America. AILLA’s mission is to preserve these materials and make them available to Indigenous Peoples, researchers, and other friends of these languages now and for generations to come. The look and feel of this new site has been updated, and some user functionality has been added, including the ability to perform a keyword search across all collections, as well as the ability to stream and view some media files without having to download them first. Access to AILLA and its resources is always free of charge. Most of the resources in the collection are available to the public, but some have special access restrictions.

FourDirectionsTeachings.com is an interactive, visual and audio-narrated resource for learning about Indigenous knowledges and philosophies from five First Nations in Canada:  Ojibway, Mohawk, M’ikmaq, Cree and Blackfoot. It also offers a collection of digitized photos as well as learning activities for each First Nation, across grade levels.

The AAO has compiled a list of online exhibits, thematic guides and links to archival descriptions and material that relate to Indigenous communities throughout Ontario and Canada.

LANIC is a digital Initiative hosted at the University of Texas, Austin. The archive has not been updated since 2015; however, it has active links to many Indigenous archives in countries in Latin America.

Native Land Digital is a Canadian not-for-profit organization, incorporated in December 2018. Native Land Digital is Indigenous-led, with an Indigenous Executive Director and Board of Directors who oversee and direct the organization. The site features a teacher’s guide, a map (continually in progress) of Indigenous traditional lands, languages and treaties and many other resources, including a Mobile App. 

This archive is a gateway to the best resources regarding Utah’s Indian tribes. With articles, books, government documents, tribal documents, oral histories, photographs, and maps pertaining to the Northwestern Shoshone, Goshute, Paiute, Utah Navajo, White Mesa, and Ute Indians, this unique archive captures the complicated history of Utah’s tribes from multiple perspectives. The project, which stems from forty years of research conducted by the University of Utah’s American West Center on behalf of Utah’s Indians, offers tribal members, students, and researchers unprecedented access to information about the rich history and culture of Utah’s native peoples.