Santa Barbara, Calif.   —   2011-11-17   —  

ABC-CLIO, an award-winning publisher of print and electronic library resources, is pleased to announce the release of the The American Mosaic: The American Indian Experience (AIE) Primary Source Treaties Collection.

The American Mosaic: The American Indian Experience (AIE) is a digital resource that illuminates the histories and contemporary cultures of the Native peoples of North America.  This online collection features reference content, hundreds of primary documents, and thousands of images. The Analyze sections pose historic quandaries that invite learners to examine issues from all angles and develop their critical thinking skills, while easy-to-use search and browse features facilitate research at every level. From pre-contact to the colonial era into the 21st century, and from the Inuit of Alaska to the Seminole of Florida, AIE is an indispensable electronic research and learning resource.

This announcement coincides with Native American Heritage Month, a month of recognition for the significant contributions the first Americans made to the establishment and growth of the U.S.  The first American Indian Day in a state was declared on the second Saturday in May 1916 by the governor of New York.

In 1990 President George H. W. Bush approved a joint resolution designating November 1990 "National American Indian Heritage Month." Similar proclamations, under variants on the name (including "Native American Heritage Month" and "National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month") have been issued each year since 1994.

"Understanding the Native peoples of North America is important to better comprehend not only our shared history but also that which came before," stated Dr. Loriene Roy, Professor, School of Information, University of Texas at Austin, and past president of the American Library Association (ALA) and the American Indian Library Association (AILA), and a member of the ABC-CLIO Advisory Board.  "Without a comprehensive appreciation of the American Indian experience over the last half millennium, it is impossible to truly grasp the identity of our shared continent.  ABC-CLIO has enhanced The American Indian Experience with new, rich content that enables all students to better understand and comprehend our shared heritage."

For nearly 100 years, from 1778 to 1871, the United States negotiated well over 400 treaties with Native American nations. During this period, approximately 370 treaties were ratified by the U.S. government, binding agreements in pursuit of peace, loyalty, land, and resources. The American Indian Experience database is proud to feature these ratified treaties in its collection of American Indian Treaties, digitized from federal sources. Students can explore this important period of American history through primary documents which contain PDF's of the original hand-written 19th-century treaties. Complete with overviews on the treaty-making process, each document is accompanied by a brief explanation of its significance, the tribes involved, U.S. and Native signatories, and of the site chosen for treaty negotiations. Every treaty is further supplemented by essays contextualizing treaty making by U.S. region, time period, and Native group, and by examinations of treaty negotiations as they have evolved over time for Native Americans and for the federal government. Each of these essays contains links connecting students to related content that provides further study and brief bibliographies for further reading, enhancing the study of the American Indian treaty collection.

Lake Placid Central School District in upstate New York is one district that utilizes The American Indian Experience for a district-wide 7^th grade Native American project.  To find out more about this, click here.

About ABC-CLIO

Founded in 1955, ABC-CLIO is an award-winning publisher of reference titles, academic and general interest books, digital resources, and books for librarians and other professionals. The company, headquartered in Santa Barbara, Calif., publishes under four well-respected imprints. ABC-CLIO Solutions are online resources that offer authoritative, continually up-to-date coverage of essential topics in U.S. history and government, world history, geography, and a range of multicultural and popular culture subjects. Created specifically for students in middle and high school, higher education, and public library settings, ABC-CLIO's suite of 27 online solutions provides comprehensive, authoritative reference content; gives students a deeper understanding of coursework, and has critical thinking explorations of over 500 scholarly dilemmas that challenge students to think critically and reach their own conclusions. ABC-CLIO/Greenwood Press are recognized as industry-leading providers of the highest-quality reference materials. These imprints offer authoritative scholarship and innovative coverage of history and humanities topics, covering American and world history and government, military history, popular culture, multiculturalism and diversity, religion and mythology, contemporary issues, health and wellness, and business and psychology. Praeger is widely regarded for scholarly, professional, and general interest books and eBooks in the social sciences and humanities, with emphasis on contemporary thought in business and economics, psychology, health and wellness, current events and social issues, modern history, military studies, and politics. Libraries Unlimited/Linworth has long been the librarians' and media specialists' source for textbooks and professional development materials. For more information, visitwww.abc-clio.com. 

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Alexis Hammond
ABC-CLIO Public Relations
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