Honoring Canada’s Indigenous Heritage: Resources from Wiley Digital Archives

The Wiley Network

Honoring Canada’s Indigenous Heritage: Resources from Wiley Digital Archives

Meghan Marino, Associate Manager, Field Marketing, Wiley

June 24, 2024

In June 2009, the House of Commons passed a motion to recognize June as National Indigenous History Month (originally National Aboriginal History Month).

Every June, Canadians celebrate National Indigenous History Month (NIHM) with community events, performances, and exhibits to honor the heritage, customs, and resilience of the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis.

Join us as we use Wiley Digital Archives to highlight resources exploring indigenous history in Canada:

The Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic
A photo from the early 20th century features a woman dressed in traditional Inuit clothing, which likely derived from caribou or sealskin. According to data from 2021, there are 69,705 Inuit in Canada.

View the Collection (with a free trial or institutional access): Inuit woman in traditional clothing. Arctic Collection, C20 early, The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland archive.

A History of Tribes and Unfair Payment
Written by Canadian anthropologist George Mercer Dawson, Sketches of the past and Present Condition of the Indians of Canada analyzes Algonkin, Hurons, Iroquets, and Iriquois histories. Regarding government purchase of indigenous lands, Dawson writes that the “payments thus made, though often apparently large, were always small in proportion to the extent of territory ceded.”

View the Collection (with a free trial or institutional access): Sketches of the past and Present Condition of the Indians of Canada, George Mercer Dawson, Pamphlets, n.d, Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) archive.

One Common Métis Accessory
A Métis tobacco bag is featured in an undated photo from The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland archive. The bags were popular among the Red River Métis in the 1850s.

View the Collection (with a free trial or institutional access): Metis. William Buller Fagg Collection, Box 93, n.d, The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland archive.

Insights on Colonization and Indigenous Demographics
“In 1941, there were only 125,521 Amerindians and Eskimos,” writes British public servant, Tracy Phillips. Colonization and declining population rates of indigenous communities in Canada are examined further from a 1944 perspective in the manuscript.

View the Collection (with a free trial or institutional access): The Continental-European ethnic and cultural composition of Canada. Tracey Philipps, The Continental-European ethnic and cultural composition of Canada, 1944, The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland archive.

Looking to expand your library’s resources?

Wiley Digital Archives offers access to preserved manuscripts, photographs, and personal accounts that illustrate the resilience, customs, and contributions of indigenous peoples throughout history in the face of colonization.

With primary source materials from institutions like The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland and the Royal Geographical Society, our archives provide your team with the tools and resources necessary for conducting quality research.

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