Representations of American Indians in American Film and Culture:

A Guide to Library Resources

• Library Materials on Racial Stereotypes and Images in Media
• Library Materials on Native Americans in Film and Video
• Key Web Sites for Researching American Indians in Film and Video
• Online Databases for Researching American Indians in Film and Video

American Indians have a long legacy of being stereotyped by creators of all types of cultural materials – books, art, film and video. This guide is intended to help you learn more about the resources that are available to help you as you study this subject. There are many good articles and reviews in the popular, film and communications literatures on this topic as well. For a good start in researching these topics, check out these Web sites:

Film Studies
A good general bibliography on doing film research with information on film studies materials in the University Libraries collections.

Learning Resources Center
The Libraries’ Learning Resources Center has a good collection of videos and films on this and other topics of interest. Their Web site also includes a set of links to other Web sites.

Library Materials On Racial Stereotypes and Images In Media

MNCAT, the catalog of the books and other materials owned by the Libraries or accessible to our students, faculty and staff is another good place to start. It is accessed through LUMINA (http://www.lib.umn.edu), Books and More. Subject headings like INDIANS IN MOTION PICTURES or INDIANS IN AMERICAN FILMS or INDIANS OF NORTH AMERICA--PUBLIC OPINION are just a few subject headings that you could try. If you need assistance in locating materials or finding information, please stop at any reference desk to ask for assistance. Locations are indicated, however most of these materials should be in the reference or circulating collections of Wilson Library.

Here are some materials on the general subject of stereotyping that might be useful to you:

1. Friedman, Lester. Unspeakable Images: Ethnicity and the American cinema. Urbana: U of Illinois Press, 1991.
   Location: Wilson PN1995 .9 .M56 U57 1991
2. Miller, Randall. Ethnic Images in American Film and Television. Philadelphia: Balch, 1978.
   Location: Andersen Immigration History PN1995 .9 .M56 E86
3. Toplin, Robert. Hollywood as Mirror: Changing Views of "Outsider" and "Enemies" in American Movies. Westport: Greenwood, 1993.
   Location: Wilson and Journalism PN1995 .9 .M56 H65 1993
4. Woll, Allen. Ethnic and Racial Images in American Film and Television: Historical Essays and Bibliography. New York: Garland, 1987.
   Location: Wilson Refe
rence PN1995 .9 .M56 W6x 1987

Library Materials On Native Americans In Film And Video

Here is a sampling of some of the materials on this subject here in the University Libraries collections. For more information or help, contact one of our reference services.

5. Bataille, Gretchen M. and Charles Silet. Images of American Indians on Film: An annotated bibliography. New York: Garland, 1985.
   Location: Wilson Reference PN1995.9 .I48 B3x
6. Bird, S. Elizabeth. Dressing in Feathers: The Construction of the Indian in American popular culture. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1996.
   Location: Wilson E98.P99.D72 1996
7. Cameron, Ian and Douglas Pye. The book of westerns. New York: Continuum, 1996.
   Location: Wilson PN1995 .9 .W4 B66 1996
8. Churchill, Ward. Fantasies of the Master Race: Literature, cinema and the colonization of American Indians. San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books, 1998.
   Location: Wilson PN56 .3.I6 C49 1998
9. Denvir, John, editor. Legal Reelism: Movies as legal texts. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996.
   Location: Wilson and Law PN1995 .9 .J8 L45 1996
10. Friar, Ralph E. The Only Good Indian; The Hollywood gospel. New York: Drama Book Specialists, 1972.
    Location: Journalism Heggan PN1995 .9.I48 F7
11. Heider, Carl G. Films for anthropological teaching. Washington, DC: American Anthropological Association, 1983.
    Location: Wilson GN42.3 .H44 1983
12. Hilger, Michael. The American Indian in film. Metuchen, N.J. : Scarecrow Press, 1986.
    Location: Wilson Reference PN1995.9 .I48 H54 1986
13. Hilger, Michael. From Savage to Nobleman: Images of Native Americans in film. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1995.
    Location: Wilson PN1995 .9.I48 H55 1998
14. Kilpatrick, Jacquelyn. Celluloid Indians: Native Americans and Film. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1999.
    Location: Wilson PN1995 .9 .I48 K56 1999
15. O’Connor, John E. The Hollywood Indian: Stereotypes of Native Americans in films. Trenton, NJ: New Jersey State Museum, 1980.
    Location: Wilson PN1995 .9 .I48 O33
16. Owens, Louis. Mixedblood Messages: Literature, film, family, place. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.
    Location: Wilson E98 .M63 O9 1998
17. Peter C. Rollins and John O’Connor, editors. Hollywood’s Indian: The portrayal of the Native American in film. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1998.
    Location: Wilson PN1995 .9 .I48 H66 1998
18. Weatherford, Elizabeth and Emilia Seubert (eds). Native Americans on film and video. New York: Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation, c1981.
    Location: Wilson Reference PN1995.9 .I48 N37 1981
19. Woll, Allen L. Ethnic and racial images in American film and television: Historical essays and bibliography. New York : Garland, 1987.
    Location: Wilson Reference PN1995.9 .M56 W6x 1987

Key Web Sites For Researching American Indians In Film and Video

There are many good places on the Web for information on this topic. Here are a few good starting places:

Native Americans in the Movies: A Bibliography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Library
"Native Americans in the Movies: A Bibliography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Library" which is 18 pages long. Also check their Web site for links to a 26 page bibliography of films from the Berkeley Media Resources Center collection as well as a good set of additional Web links.

Native Web: Resources for Indigenous Cultures around the World
A good listing of films and videos by Native American groups and individuals. Good set of links for further research as well. Sponsored by Native Web, the site is dedicated to providing "resources for indigenous cultures around the world."

Ableza
Ableza is a Native American Arts and Film Institute which is "dedicated to promoting, preserving and protecting traditional and contemporary arts by Native American Peoples."

Artists' Views of Native Americans
American Indians were also a favorite subject of many European and American born artists during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. From the idealized image of the Indian as a "noble savage" to artists hoping to document an accurate picture of Indians and their society in a time when it was already disappearing, this site is a good starting point.

Racial Stereotypes and Images in American Media
A listing of some of the books in the University Library at USC on the stereotyping of minorities in American mass media.

Movies and Native Americans
From the American West Web site, "Movies and Native Americans" is a list of, at present, 43 movies (Hollywood-style) that to various extents present Native Americans; some films provide a respectful image of the Native American, some less so.

Native Stereotypes: On Television and in Film 1939-1989
Native Stereotypes: On Television and in Film 1990-1995
"Native Stereotypes :On Television and in Film 1939-1989" and "Native Stereotypes :On Television and in Film 1990-1995" is presented on these two Web sites. Useful information on specific films as well as overall industry/cultural trends are covered.

Online Databases For Researching American Indians In Film and Video

Location: America: History and Life
Available online from ABC-CLIO through the Article Indexes option in LUMINA.

America: History and Life is a complete bibliographic reference to the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Published since 1964, the database comprises almost 400,000 bibliographic entries. The database is updated monthly.

This extensive database covers over 2,000 journals published worldwide. In addition to covering all key English-language historical journals, America: History and Life coverage includes selected historical journals from major countries, state and local history journals, and a targeted selection of hundreds of journals in the social sciences and humanities. Over 90% of the articles included are published in English-language journals. The articles are abstracted by an experienced group of abstracters, most of whom are historians and librarians who are experts in the content of the journals they cover.

In addition to articles, each year America: History and Life includes approximately 6,000 citations of book and media reviews from a selection of over one hundred key journals in US and Canadian history and related fields. The database also includes citations to abstracts of dissertations published in these areas. Every year approximately 16,000 new entries are added to the database.

Location: Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI)
Available from ISI online through the Article Indexes option in LUMINA.

AHCI covers arts and humanities, including archaeology, architecture, area studies, art, classics, dance, film, folklore, history, language and linguistics, literature and literary reviews, music, philosophy, poetry, radio and television, religion and theology, and theater. Indexes articles, book reviews, performance reviews, fiction, poetry, editorials, letters, etc. from over 1,100 arts and humanities journals published worldwide in all languages. Also includes selected relevant articles from an additional 6,800 journals in other fields. Each bibliographic citation includes a list of references cited in the source article. Database covers 1997 to the present.

Location: ComAbstracts
Available online from Communication Institute for Online Scholarship through the Article Indexes option in LUMINA.

This database covers everything from advertising to the discovery of the alphabet to whether or not parrots communicate or just talk. All aspects of scholarly communication research on topics relating to journalism and mass communication, communication theory, interpersonal and organizational communication, speech and rhetoric are covered.

Location: Ethnic NewsWatch
Available online from Softline Information through the Article Indexes option in LUMINA.

The complete text of over 350,000 articles, editorials and reviews published in over 200 ethnic and minority newspapers, magazines and journals published in the U.S., United Kingdom, Africa and Canada. This database provides multicultural coverage of subjects of interest to African Americans, Hispanics, Latinos, Chicanos, Native Americans, Asian, Jewish, Arab and European and Eastern European Americans. Database includes a directory providing bibliographic information for each publication covered.

Scope of coverage is any national and international news affecting and/or of special interest to the ethnic and minority populations of the U.S. English and Spanish language materials are included. Covers May 1991 to the present. Database is updated monthly.

Location: Expanded Academic Index
Available online from IAC/Gale through the Article Indexes option in LUMINA.

Contains over 1.15 million citations, with selected abstracts, to articles, news reports, editorials, biographies, short stories, poetry, and reviews appearing in some 1500 social science, humanities, general science, and current events periodicals plus the New York Times. Provides the complete text of articles appearing in more than 200 selected periodicals. Covers topics of high academic interest. Records are added daily.

Location: General Reference Center (formerly called Magazine Index)
Available online from IAC/Gale through the Article Indexes option in LUMINA.

Contains over three million citations, with abstracts (since 1973) of articles published in more than 400 general-interest and consumer magazines published in the United States and Canada as well as the New York Times. Covers feature articles, news reports, editorials, biographical pieces, short stories, poetry, book and film reviews, and other features. Includes the complete text of selected articles published in more than 100 magazines.

Location: Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe
Available online from Lexis-Nexis/CIS through the Article Indexes option in LUMINA.

This research service is very strong in general news, current events and business news; with thousands of full-text newspapers, magazines, journals and newsletters. Full-text of film and book reviews, commentary and other evaluations are available.

Location: LLBA (Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts)
Available online through the Article Indexes option in LUMINA.

Covering 1973 to the present in the field of linguistic research, including psycholinguistics, applied linguistics, semantics, discourse analysis, interpersonal communication, psychopathology, nonverbal communication, psychometrics, and other related areas.

Location: MLA Bibliography
Available from the Modern Languages Association online through the Article Indexes option in LUMINA.

Covering 1963 to the present covering scholarly publications in literature (excluding Classical Greek and Latin literature), language, linguistics, and folklore. The database gives bibliographic citations to articles from over 4,000 periodicals published worldwide in all languages.

Location: National Newspapers/MINITEX
Available from ABI/INFORM online through the Article Indexes option in LUMINA.

This database provides full-text coverage of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and Minneapolis Star Tribune. These newspapers cover the region, national and the world providing news coverage to major trends and issues as well as giving reviews of current theatrical presentations, films and other artistic performances.

Nancy Herther, 170B Wilson Library, (612) 624-2020 , n-hert@tc.umn.edu