Early Encounters in North America: Peoples, Cultures, and the Environment 
Access: On-Site Access Only
Description: Contains materials that describe the interaction of peoples and events between 1534 and 1860 in North America documenting the impressions of the first European traders, missionaries, explorers, soldiers, and officials. Materials include either natural features (descriptions of the animals and plants for example) or interactions among various cultural groups (Dutch, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, African, and a host of Indian peoples). The collection contains published and unpublished narratives, diaries, journals, letters, maps, memoirs and recorded speeches as well as images, all centered on present-day Canada and the United States (with some limited coverage of Mexico). The Indian perspective is recorded in a wide variety of sources, including oral accounts written down by Europeans at the time of contact and afterward, speeches, correspondence, and publications produced by Indians.
The collection has been compiled by consulting a number of bibliographies, including:
- A Biobibliography of Native American Writers, 1772-1924 by Daniel F. Littlefield, Jr. and James W. Parins
- Sources for the ethnography of northeastern North America to 1611, by David B. Quinn.
- The French image of America: a chronological and subject bibliography of French books printed before 1816 relating to the British North American colonies and the United States by Durand Echeverria and Everett C. Wilkie, Jr.
- Wagner & Camp's The Plains and the Rockies, a critical bibliography of exploration, adventure and travel in the American West, 1800-1865
- Robert Rogers Hubach's Early Midwestern Travel Narratives, An Annotated Bibliography, 1634-1850.
- Candiana.org - a full-text online collection that contains documents about Canada’s history from the first European contact to the nineteenth century.
- Bibliography of Native North Americans, Human Relations Area Files, 1976
Coverage: 1534-1860
Subject(s)
Americas (Area Studies)
Gender, Minority Studies & Anthropology
History, Genealogy & Archives
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