This collection centers around the academic life of Wilcomb E. Washburn, containing his personal correspondence and academic notes from his career at Dartmouth College, Harvard University, and the Smithsonian Institute. The vast majority of the collection consists of historic portraits of Native Americans, academic notes and papers, and personal correspondence.
This collection contains a variety of materials pertaining to Native American Indian History and their struggles through the mid-20th Century. Included are journals specifically geared toward a Native American audience, as well as, journals with articles written about Native American history and social issues. Research papers document more specific areas of interest within Native American history, while publications address more specific topics as well.
The Travel Diary of Harriet Murray documents the journey of Murray and three friends from San Francisco, California to Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. Murray wrote primarily in third person in her large scrapbook-size diary. Along the way, the group passed through states in the Southwest and made observations on the lives of Native Americans.
Emma N. Young autograph book documents the relationships of Emma with her classmates in Indian School and her moves to several Indian reservations in the United States from 1882-1886. Emma Young lived in Kansas, Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Wisconsin during the 1880s.
Danish-American photographer Niels Larson Hakkerup took these photographs in Minnesota between 1900 and 1915. Subjects of the photographs were members of the Leech Lake and Red Lake Nation including Chief Bemidji, for whom the city of Bemidji, Minnesota is named, and John Smith, who reportedly lived 137 years. Hakkerup’s photography focused on the beadwork, clothing and hair styles of Native Americans. The glass plate negatives for these photographs were discovered in the “rubble” of Hakkerup’s studio after he sold it to Aza and Miriam Cooper in 1946. The Cooper’s son, David, eventually donated the collection to the American Indian Resource Center at Bemidji State University where they were eventually displayed and distributed.