Survey of Indigenous Materials in The Archives

Following the 2018 federal recognition of six Virginia tribes, this Survey of Indigenous Materials sought to identify holdings within the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library relevant to local indigenous groups; our goal was to ensure the ethical stewardship of these objects while supporting outreach efforts as well as emerging research and teaching needs.

The project team assessed a total of 185 manuscript collections and 52 theses and dissertations (TDs). Of the archival collections evaluated, we excluded 150 (80%) of those evaluated for containing superficial or no reference to Indigenous peoples. This report lists the remaining 35 archival collections and 52 TDs that fell within the scope of this project. Among this subset, only 23 (12%) archival collections and fifteen (29%) TDs hold any relevance to Virginia Indian communities.

We acknowledge the Monacan people, traditional custodians of the land on which these collections reside, and pay respect to their elders past and present.