Reference Library of Native North America

Four deluxe volumes — a truly remarkable resource for studying Native American life, language, beliefs, tribal nations, and history across the United States and Canada.

About the Series

The four-volume Reference Library of Native North America is based on the Native American Almanac and offers authoritative information on the culture and civilization of the indigenous peoples of the United States and Canada, both historic and contemporary. In its pages you will find brief biographies, signed topical essays, annotated directories, excerpts from important documents, and much more. Each chapter contains a subject-specific bibliography, photographs, maps, and charts — 400 illustrations in all.

Crucially, the set treats Native nations as living communities, not historical artifacts: alongside chapters on historic achievements are essays on contemporary urbanization and non-reservation populations, modern writings and films produced by Native peoples, and present-day health, education, and language issues.

Topics Covered

Native American culture and tribal nations — major cultural events — writings, films, and videos produced by Native peoples — urbanization and non-reservation populations — historical achievements — health, education, and languages — religion and the arts — biographies of notable Native Americans, historic and contemporary.

In the Classroom and Library

For Native American Heritage Month in November — and for the rest of the year — this set anchors tribal-nation research profiles, treaty document studies, and biography projects (figures such as Jim Thorpe, profiled on our research database page, appear here in full context). The Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian offers Native Knowledge 360°, a free national education initiative that pairs exceptionally well with the series' contemporary chapters. See our lesson plans guide for frameworks that hold every community's history to equal weight.

Editorial authority matters especially in this field, and the set has it: editor Duane Champagne, a sociologist and member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, spent his career directing Native American studies research at the university level. The signed essays reflect that standard — scholarship from within and alongside Native communities rather than about them from a distance, which was far from guaranteed in reference publishing of the era.

Reading Pathways

The nations route begins with the tribal nations chapters, assigning each student or team one nation to profile — historic territory, language family, contemporary government — before widening to the thematic essays. This keeps the focus on specific, living communities rather than a generic composite. The contemporary route starts from the present: the chapters on urbanization, modern writings and films, and current health and education issues, read first, dismantle the museum-case stereotype before historical study begins. The documents route works through treaty excerpts and federal policy documents, pairing each with the narrative chapter that explains its consequences.

Terminology matters in this field, and the set's signed essays model respectful, specific usage — naming nations rather than defaulting to generic labels. Teachers will find the Smithsonian's Native Knowledge 360° framing questions a strong companion for classroom discussion norms.

Reference Details

Format

4 deluxe hardcover volumes; appendix, bibliography, glossary, index

Length

Approximately 1,360 pages; 400 illustrations, maps, and charts

Editor

Duane Champagne

ISBN

0-8103-1655-9 (0810316559)

Reading level

Middle and high school; teacher resource for elementary grades

To find this set in a library near you, search WorldCat by title or ISBN. See also the rest of the series guide or the complete 31-volume collection.