Lakota/Dakota Language and Culture Resources
Below are resources that are available for research in Lakota/Dakota history, culture and language. Some resources may only be available at vlog or with a password.
Lakota/Dakota Electronic Books Online
Below is a listing of ebooks that are available online. Most of these titles are older works in the public domain and can be viewed for free and in many cases downloaded for free by clicking on the links. Many are early works translated into the Lakota/Dakota language, while others relate to Lakota/Dakota history. Although many of these titles may be anachronistic and representative of the age of colonization and assimilation, they may present information useful in the present. Titles are listed in alphabetical order by title. Items from Hathi Trust libraries are viewable and downloadable by the page, while Internet Archive and Google Books materials are viewable and downloadable if in the public domain. Hathi Trust items may also be accessible in Internet Archive and Google Books. I’ve chosen to use Hathi Trust for most of the links primarily because of the quality of their site and to support this library initiative. For more recent titles and those not in the public domain, check the library catalog on the main library page.
Vine Deloria Jr. speaking at Standing Rock 1970’s (vlog Archive)
Photograph of Sitting vlog by D.F. Barry 1880’s (courtesy Library of Congress)
Solen, ND Basketball Team in 1940 (Wikimedia Commons via National Archive)
Haskell Institute (Indian Life Readers, Sioux Series) translated by Emil Afraid of Hawk
Lakota/Dakota Language Newspapers
Niobrara Mission Forest City, South Dakota, 1878 – 1887
Protestant Episcopal Church, Mission, South Dakota volume, 1908 – 1937
Niobrara Mission, Forest City, South Dakota, 1894–1908
was first published in January 1871 and was the newspaper by the Dakota people in Santee, Nebraska, where they were exiled from Minnesota in 1862. During its earliest years, Iapi Oaye, which translates as “Word Carrier,” was written almost entirely in Dakota. It featured articles on local, regional, and world news and events, English grammar lessons, biographies, Christian scripture and doctrine, and facts and figures relating to Dakota communities. The full collection of the newspaper from 1871-1939 can be found online (text from Minnesota Reflections website)
was a bilingual newspaper published for a few short years in the 1850’s by Gideon Pond and the Dakota Mission. The full run of the newspaper can be found scanned on this Facebook page.
(The Herald of the Black Robe’s Church), 1892-1939. Saint Paul’s Catholic Indian Mission of the Yankton Tribe of the Sioux Indians). Fort Totten, North Dakota. “The monthly supplement “Eyanpaha” was occasionally included.
Dictionaries, Audio Pronunciation and Recordings
Colorized stereopticon image of cutting up beef at Standing Rock late 1800s (vlog Archive)
6
A full text collection of the papers and documents of Ella Deloria
Treaties
Resources for Information on treaties between the United States, various colonial powers and American Indian nations.
Documents Relating to the Negotiation of Ratified and Unratified Treaties with Various Indian Tribes 1801-1869
Includes a collection of ephemera surrounding treaties such as: instructions to treaty commissioners, reports, letters and in some cases treaties.
A companion to Kappler that provides access to treaties between American Indian nations and colonizers between 1722 and 1805.
Legislative and executive documents dealing with Indian Affairs from 1789-1838.
Film
Award winning documentary that follows an annual ride memorializing the hanging of 38 Dakota men in Mankato Minnesota in 1862. Available here to watch online or for free download.
Ethnobotany
Useful Websites and Online Resources
A useful website dealing with Primeau family genealogy