Center (cont’d)

and creating a research atmosphere that invites indigenous peoples to make the center an archival home for their creative work.  We are home to the American Native Press Archives, the world’s largest collection of American Indian, Alaska Native and Canadian First Nation newspapers and periodicals in hard copy, microfilm, and digital formats.  Also, the Dr. J.W.Wiggins Native American Art Collection, which contains more than 1,500 pieces, including painting, beadwork, pottery, basketry, and other media is part of our organization.  The Sequoyah Research Center hopes to ensure that discussion about Native Americans accounts for the perspectives of the peoples themselves.

 

        Education is a priority at the SRC.  The center is a teaching and research unit for students here at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and from other universities and K-12 institutions.  We serve visiting scholars from all over the United States and abroad.  Public organizations such as the National Park Service, National Trail of Tears Association, and the Native American Journalists Association partner with us in various research projects. We actively promote partnerships with other entities and individuals doing research on Native Americans.

 

     Finally, the Sequoyah Center is a research resource. The American Native Press Archives hold nearly one million pieces, covering over a century and a half of North American Native writing.  A steward of tribal publications as well as individual literary effort, the archives documents contemporary and historical Native American issues. There you may also find information on contemporary American Indian and First Nations art and artists.  If you are interested in on-line research, please go to our sister website http://anpa.ualr.edu/.  There you can access a variety of computer searchable data bases like the Tribal Writers Digital Library or the Cherokee Phoenix in electronic format and newspaper indexes to the Cherokee Advocate and other Indian newspapers as well as dozens of other research features.