Arizona consists of approximately 28 % Native American land, comprising a total of over one quarter of the state. Privately-owned, non-Native American land accounts for roughly 18 %. And only an approximate 5 % of the entire state of Arizona is private land excluding Maricopa and Pinal Counties which host the greater metro areas of Phoenix and Tucson. The rest is public land in the form of BLM, National Forest, National Parks and Monuments, or State lands. Arizona is truly the Native American state harboring the greatest population of pureblooded Native people in the United States. If you visit these Native lands, go with respect and care by observing their individual tribal laws which vary according to the reservation. This is especially true concerning back-road travel and camping. Call their tribal office for more information. And when you do go, think back to what it must have been like....

The Sources for Native American Information and Links
This is a fantastic research category because of the sheer number and professional quality of the websites available. Unlike other southwestern topics that certainly have their champions, Native American studies have garnered an inordinately large number of incredible minds dedicated to creating website resources par excellance. These gateways and portals to Native American information are astounding. The stunning number of links alone, not to mention the site-presented material, could keep you occupied in your educational or research quest for weeks, months, perhaps even years. These website authors have my sincere gratitude for their scholarship and tireless, passionate efforts.

Archaeolink – Rod Polasky
www.archaeolink.com/amazing_worlds_of_archaeology.htm#North

“The Amazing Worlds of Archaeology, Anthropology, & Ancient Civilizations – History, Social Studies and More” in Rod’s words. Worlds? This website contains worlds! I’m sorry but my mind can barely grasp the universe contained within just this one website. Polasky has more valuable links on one of his index pages than any other 10 good websites combined. He must live for this research because it represents thousands of hours of work. He has developed one of the most critical resource sites for any Native American researcher to bookmark at the top of their list.

Bureau of Indian Affairs – BIA
www.doi.gov/bureau-indian-affairs.html

First Nations – Issues of Consequence
http://www.dickshovel.com

I really like this educational site focused on Native American history, politics, genealogy, culture, and issues of great consequence. Jordan S. Dill created and maintains this huge information site. Periodically throughout the site you’ll note a statement by Dill in response to a particular Native American critic. Jordan mentions that this critic’s statements serve to further verify the accuracy and veracity of First Nation’s information. There is obviously more than meets the eye here and a hint of politics is visible. For me it adds a bit of fresh air to see a bit of controversy. Right after the website’s flash intro page you’ll find yourself in a multi-page, alphabetical directory that leads to an incredible number of internet resources on everything Native American. This is a magnificent website. Blow your mind and go to his Amazon.com bookstore, created circa 1997 when such website bookstores were rare (note the personal letter and introduction by Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder), and look through hundreds of books focused on Native American studies. Wow.

Inter Tribal Council of Arizona
www.itcaonline.com

ITC was established in 1952 as a united voice for Arizona tribal governments to address common issues and concerns. This Council oversees more than 20 important projects such as the Tribal Renewable Energy Resources and Pollution Prevention Project, Geographic Information Systems Program, and Tribal Water Systems Program.

Library of Congress - American Memory: Native American History
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/browse/ListSome.php?category=Native%20American%20History

Yep, that’s a long web URL. The Library of Congress has a fascinating division dedicated to the American experience. The Native American History section consists of six collections particularly focused on photos and multiformat collections ranging from the Chicago Daily News 1902-1933 to Omaha Indian Music recordings. A true multi-media collection aimed at providing an authentic historical experience.

Native American Documents Project
www.csusm.edu/nadp/nadp.htm

Begun in 1993 by Professor E.A.Schwartz as a method for making federal Indian policy history accessible through the Net, this collection of documents comes from assorted sources such as the National Archives, university libraries, and microfilm copies of newspapers. It also chronicles the 1870’s through the 1920’s in great detail from The Board of Indian Commissioners reports. History first-hand.

Native American Ethnobotany: University of Michigan - Dearborn
http://herb.umd.umich.edu

A huge database of plant-derived foods, drugs, dyes, and fibers of the Native American peoples. The search database ultimately links to the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service website for plant info.

Native Web
www.nativeweb.org/resources.php?type=1

“Resources for Indigenous Cultures around the World”. A world-class website that covers native people worldwide. In the Resource Center you’ll find the “Nation’s Index” with over 5,591 links to tribal websites on everything from art to politics. This website’s list of world native people-oriented websites is without equal. Take a close look at the Top 5 Percent Sites visited by NativeWeb users. It comprises a hefty 223 links that likely represent the best of the best Native Peoples sites on the internet. Totally mind boggling in scope. Though this site covers all native people around the globe, the links to Native American sources are still very comprehensive and stand on their own.

This Day in North American Indian History
http://americanindian.net/links.html

Get ready to ride. Over 300 pages and 4,000 photos just for starters and it’s even recommended by Encyclopedia Britannica. It’s huge, comprehensive, homespun, and has been the passion of one man, Phil Konstantin, since 1996. Not only that, it’s fantastically to the point. Go to Phil’s Bio page and you’ll see that he has had a very interesting series of occupations including California Highway Patrolman, radio traffic reporter, and computer operator at NASA’s Mission Control for the Apollo and Skylab mission. He has a personal library of 3,000 volumes and is a voracious reader. Hah, no kidding. One look through this site and you, too, will understand the power of the Net. The title of Phil’s website refers to the site’s detailed chronological history covering Native American history, North, Central, and South. It’s not the only theme, though, but merely one face of a beautifully faceted gem. The true value to me is his seemingly limitless list of links in every major category you’ll want to search. There are 1,045 links under “History Sites”, 430 for “Tribal Sites”, and 510 for “Art, Music, and photography Sites”. Get the picture? You simply won’t have enough time on your hands for the next 6 months to truly investigate let alone exhaust Phil’s massive collection of links.

WWW Virtual Library – American Indians
Index of Native American Resources on the Internet
www.hanksville.org/NAresources

Hanksville, Utah is the home of this fine lady, Karen M. Strom. I’ve been there. It’s in the middle of nowhere on the way to the Valley of the Goblins, the San Rafael Swell, and Capitol Reef, all favorites of mine. Next time I’m through there I’ll look her up because this site rules. I found a link to her website on the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) homepage’s list of links. BIA has very few links listed on their website so her listing is impressive. Now I know why. Prepare yourself for hundreds and hundreds of the absolute best Native American sources on the Web. Karen has high-graded and filtered her listings to represent the essential sites in each category of research, be it movies, organizations, media, or language websites. Another prime example of the power of the internet shining brightly through the devotion of a single dedicated individual.

Genealogy

Access Genealogy – Indian Tribal Records
www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/index.htm

A mind-boggling site primarily for tracing Native American ancestry. The list of American Indian tribes on this site is totally comprehensive and is based on five primary sources including Frederick W. Hodge’s 1906 Handbook of American Indians and John R. Swanton’s 1953 The Indian Tribes of North America. Each tribe you research will open a basic information page that includes many additional links to other valuable sources online and in print. It’s one of the two or three top websites you’ll want to begin with if you are researching Native American genealogy.

National NAGPRA
www.cr.nps.gov/nagpra

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 established this government body to oversee the return of certain Native American cultural items to lineal descendants, culturally-affiliated Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations. At this site you can access several important databases on cultural item inventories, intent to repatriate info, the Culturally Unidentifiable Native American Inventories Database, which contains, as of August 31, 2005, 15,322 records describing 115,477 Native American human remains inventoried by 445 museums and Federal agencies. NAGPRA’s website also provides the useful Native American Consultation Database (NACD) for finding officers and officials from any Native American tribe, village, or corporation which can be found here: http://home.nps.gov/nacd/

Native American Genealogy
http://members.aol.com/bbbenge/front.html

Thanks to Barbara Benge, this exhaustive list of Native American Genealogy resources is one of the best on the web. A horse trainer by profession, she is also an amateur genealogist and offers her own Cherokee Nation Census book. Though this site does not seem to be updated very frequently and has a few dead links, it still links to sources that endure.

News

Webmaster’s Blog at Native American Resources – Karen M. Strom
www.hanksville.org/NAresources/news

“A place to put resources of a more ephemeral nature, such as events, recommended new websites, new books, etc.” Karen updates this every few days so it is fresh with Native American news and relevant “ephemera”.

Nativeland Lodge
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nativeland

A homespun forum for exchanging family-style news.

Native Wire - Indian.org
www.indians.org/NativeWire/nativewire.html

Close to one-hundred news sources supply Native Wire with the latest news relevant to Native Americans in the news. There are approximately one-hundred news articles archived ranging from current to one-year old. Diverse subjects presented like any mainstream online newspaper make Native Wire a valuable resource.

Prophecy Keepers Webcast
www.prophecykeepers.com

Blue Otter, a mixed-blood Cherokee, operates this small site and source of Native American wisdom. He has recorded over one hundred hours of talks by tribal elders in the form of 70+ radio interviews. He also markets books and CDs focused on personal survival in the years of the coming earth changes. A personal vision website with major survivalist/military preparedness touches. Blue Otter’s compilation of survival info, included on his CDs, is valuable and comprehensive.

The Tribal Lists

Federally Recognized Indian Tribes
www.accessgenealogy.com/native/bureau/tribesbystate.htm

Basic alphabetical register organized by state lists. No addresses or additional information.

Tribal List – American Indian Heritage Foundation
www.indians.org/Resource/FedTribes99/fedtribes99.html

A perfect website for the ethnographer, explorer, or researcher needing more specific personal contacts throughout the Native American world. This site features an excellent list that goes a step further than most websites by categorizing tribes by their local agency and chapters as well as by the individual reservation. This means, for instance, that instead of just listing “Navajo Nation”, there are also many agencies within that larger group: Western Navajo Agency, Chinle Agency, Fort Defiance Agency, etc. They in turn include various reservation sub-groups: Red Lake Reservation, Lukachukai Reservation, Bird Springs Reservation, Coalmine Reservation, etc.

Native American Nations
www.nativeculturelinks.com/nations.html

A stunning list, maintained and updated frequently by Lisa Mitten, with hundreds of websites maintained primarily by the tribal nation itself. Some links are about the tribal nation from other sources, but wow, there are more listed tribal websites here than on any other website I’ve found so far.

Native Tribes of the U.S. and Canada
www.dickshovel.com/trbindex.html

Addresses, phone numbers, and State Recognized Tribes in addition to the typical Federally Recognized Tribes list.

Tribal Websites

Official and Unofficial Tribal Websites
http://americanindian.net/links2.html

400+ links to tribes, councils, and tribal web pages. Super directory by Phil Konstantin on one of the very first and still one of the very best American Indian websites. Incredible resource. Thanks Phil.

Native American Book Sources and Maps

Book Sources and Maps on Native Americans
http://members.aol.com/bbbenge/page2.html

Thanks again to Barbara Benge for this useful list of book sources and some wonderful maps. Some of her sources are expected like Amazon or Powells Books; however she lists a lot of small booksellers who specialize in hard-to-find Native American literature and studies.

First Nations - Issues of Consequence
www.dickshovel.com/amadex.html

Jordan Dill’s Amazon.com bookstore features hundreds and hundreds of books relating to Native Americans.

WWW Virtual Library – American Indians
www.hanksville.org/NAresources/indices/bookarchive.html

Karen Strom provides hundreds, probably thousands, of links to Native American authors, poets, and historians through online book sources, organizations, journals, libraries, magazine articles, blogs, and personal websites. I particularly enjoy her links to Presses and Print Shops that specialize in publishing books on Native American subjects. She maintains a sturdy Amazon.com bookstore of her own with titles that she has hand-picked as representative of some of the very best American Indian books in print.