Microform Collections in Stauffer Library
IROQUOIS INDIANS: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY
Description
This collection is a project of the D'Arcy McNickle Center for the History of the American Indian at the Newberry Library in Chicago. Coverage is from the 1600's to 1842 and includes minutes of treaty conferences, the agreements resulting from formal meetings, and a broad range of background materials useful for interpreting motives, procedures, and effects. The documents have been chosen based on their relevance to the diplomatic history of the Iroquois nations or their league (more background information).
Most of the documents are manuscripts or printed texts arranged in chronological order. Some materials are copies of the same texts but from different sources, resulting in significant variations. Texts in languages other than English are also included, but rarely translated. Photographs of wampum belts have also been included to represent Indian records of negotiations. In most instances, however, it has not been possible to identify which belt represents a specific record. These images are grouped on Reel 50, based on emblematic content.
The Guide to the Collection has been divided into two sections:
- Part I: Calendar of Documents (chronological listing for context)
- Part II: Alphabetical index of names & subjects (refers only to about 1/6th of the documents on file and should be used with the Calendar to find particular documents or sets of related documents)
Microform Location and Call Number Stauffer Library Microfilms at Z1210 .I7 I76
Guide/Index Location and Call Number Stauffer Library Reference at Z1210 .I7 I76 1985
Collection Status Complete (50 of 50 Reels, plus Guide)
Notes
"The Iroquois League was a great military and political power in North America during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Its importance was recognized by contemporary statesmen of competing European empires and colonies, who vied with each other to secure Iroquois friendship and alliance. After 1700, the Iroquois policy of neutrality maintained a balance of power between the empires that lasted until the Seven Years War, and the Iroquois nations were wooed by Britain and the United States during the War of the American Revolution. It is not possible to write a valid political history of eastern North America during the era preceding the Revolution without carefully considering Iroquois participation in the most important events of the time; and the basis of the Northwest Ordinances of 1784-87 was the treaty made at Fort Stanwix between the United States and the Iroquois in 1784." -- from the Introduction to the Guide