Last revised: October, 2009
Native Americans in Maryland: A Resource Guide
This guide is a selective list of resources on Native Americans in Maryland. It is intended as a starting point to research and not as an exhaustive list of sources. Email the subject area specialist at Marylandia/Rare Books/NTL staff or call 301-405-9213 or 301-405-9210 for more information.
Table of Contents
Web Resources
General
The Archeological Society of Maryland
The Archeological Society of Maryland is an organization of lay and professional archeologists devoted to archeology in Maryland.
Their newsletter ASM Ink is available online.
Close Encounters of the First Kind, 1585-1767
Maryland State Archives Documents for the Classroom project provides images of original documents, maps, and drawings relating to Native Americans as well as a suggested reading list and a listing of Maryland museum and historic sites.
Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum
The Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum is the State Museum of Archeology. Especially useful for information on Maryland Native Americans is the Prehistoric Ceramics in Maryland page which also includes the Prehistoric Cultural History in Maryland section.
Maryland Commission on American Indian Affairs
The Official statewide agency for Native Americans. Their 2007 Annual Report and 2008 Annual Report are available online. In addition to information on activities of the Commission, the annual report includes listings for Maryland indigenous tribes.
Maryland Native American Resources
MDGenWeb site providing links to information on Maryland Indian tribes and other sources.
SAILOR: Maryland Native Americans
SAILOR listing of links for Native Americans in Maryland.
Tribal Web Sites
Accohannock Native American Living Village
Cedarville Band of Piscataway Indians
Piscataway Conoy Tribe of Maryland
Finding Sources in the University of Maryland Libraries
UM Libraries Catalog: Use the Catalog to search for books, journal titles, government documents, manuscript collections, and other materials owned by the UM Libraries. Check the box for "USMAI (All Campuses)" in order to search the entire UM System at once. You may search for a topic using word/s anywhere or subject word/s or use the Library of Congress Subject Headings (viewable within individual records or by using the "Subject Beginning with..." search) Some examples of possible subject headings:
Indians of North America-Maryland
Indians of North America-Chesapeake Bay Region
Indians of North America-Middle Atlantic States
Chesapeake Bay Region-Antiquities
Maryland-Antiquities
Middle Atlantic States-Antiquities
Archaeology-Maryland
Excavations (Archaeology)-Maryland
Algonquian Indians
Conoy Indians
Lumbee Indians
Nanticoke Indians
Piscataway Indians
Powhatan Indians
Susquehanna Indians
Accokeek Creek Site (Md.)
Susquehanna Site (Md.)
Other possible geographic locations:
Potomac River Valley
Eastern Shore
Anacostia River Valley
See also names of counties, towns
The search box below will open the Catalog and launch your search in a new window.
Bibliographies
- Delmarva History Online Bibliography
The Delmarva History Online collaborative project provides access to information on the history and culture of the Delmarva Peninsula. - Maryland History and Culture Bibliography
A bibliography listing citations to books, articles, and dissertations on Maryland topics relating to history and culture. Search by the subject category "Native Americans" or enter a specific term to search. - Porter, Frank W. In Pursuit of the Past: Anthropological and Bibliographic Guide to Maryland and Delaware.
Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1986.
LOCATION: Hornbake Library Maryland Room Maryland Stacks, McKeldin Library Reference CALL NUMBER: E 78.M3 P671 1986 - Selected References on the Indians of Virginia, the District of Columbia, and Maryland
1999 bibliography of Indians in this area done by the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Department of Anthropology.
Electronic Databases
Because of licensing agreements, UM only databases can be used only by current faculty, staff, and students of the University of Maryland, College Park.
- Academic Search Premier UM only
Provides indexing to over 7,000 journals; provides full text of articles to over 4,000 journals. - America: History and Life UM only
Provides citations to periodical articles on U.S. history. Includes links to full text of selected journal articles. - Use Digital Dissertations UM only to search for theses and dissertations dating from 1861. Full text is available from 1997 to the present.
- JSTOR UM only
Electronic archive of core journals in the humanties, social sciences, and sciences. Includes full text of articles published prior to the current five years. - Periodicals Index Online UM only
Access to 4,500 arts/humanities and social science journals; some full text.
Maps
- Americae Pars, Nunc Virginia Dicta. Map by John White, engraved by Theodor de Bry, 1590.
LOCATION: Hornbake Maryland Room Maryland Map
CALL NUMBER: G3880 1590.W4
This 1590 John White/De Bry map was the first map to name the Chesapeake Bay ("Chesepiooc Sinus".) Other Indian place names are also included on the map.
Digital image of map at the Maryland State Archives - Captain John Smith's Map of Virginia. 1612 version in Maryland Room Maryland Map Collection MD/VA 02.
Digital image of map at Library of Congress American Memory Web site.
Based on Captain John Smith's exploration of the Chesapeake Bay, this important map is the first to show the entire Chesapeake Bay. It shows many Indian villages as well as depicting locations of Indian tribes.
Selected Books
- Dent, Richard J. Chesapeake Prehistory: Old Traditions, New Directions. New York: Plenum Press, 1995.
LOCATION: Hornbake Maryland Room Maryland Stacks, McKeldin Library Stacks
CALL NUMBER: E78.M3 D45 1995
A comprehensive synthesis of the archaeological record of the Chesapeake region. - Early American Indian Documents: Treaties and Laws, 1607-1789: Volume 6, Maryland Treaties, 1762-1775; Volume 15, Virginia and Maryland Laws. General editor, Alden T. Vaughan.
Washington, DC: University Publications of America, c. 1979-2004.
LOCATION: Hornbake Maryland Room Maryland Stacks (v.6), McKeldin Library Stacks
CALL NUMBER: KF8202 1979 - Kenny, Hamill. The Origin and Meaning of the Indian Place Names of Maryland. Baltimore: Waverly Press, 1961.
LOCATION: Hornbake Maryland Room Maryland Stacks, McKeldin Library Stacks
CALL NUMBER: E98.N2K4 1961
A detailed study of the origin and meaning of over 300 Indian place names in Maryland. - Maryland Historical Magazine: Volume 76, No. 1, March 1980.
LOCATION: Hornbake Maryland Room Maryland Stacks, McKeldin Library Stacks
CALL NUMBER: F176.M18 Vol. 75, No. 1
This issue of the Maryland Historical Magazine is dedicated to articles on Indians in Maryland. Among the six articles included are: "The Origins of the Piscataway and Related Indian Cultures" by Wayne E. Clark, "Behind the Frontier: Indian Survivals in Maryland" by Frank W. Porter, III, and "Tradition and Change in the Lumbee Indian Community of Baltimore" by Abraham Makofsky. - Potter, Stephen R. Commoners, Tribute, and Chiefs: The Development of Algonquian Culture in the Potomac Valley. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993.
LOCATION: Hornbake Maryland Room Maryland Stacks, McKeldin Library Stacks
CALL NUMBER: E99.A35 1993
An exploration of the development of Algonquian speaking groups of the Lower Potomac Valley. - Powhatan Foreign Relations, 1500-1722. Edited by Helen C. Rountree. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993.
LOCATION: Hornbake Maryland Room Maryland Stacks, McKeldin Library Stacks
CALL NUMBER: E99.P85 P683 1993
A compilation of nine essays on the thirty Algonquinian speaking Indian tribes known as the Powhatan of Virginia and their relationship with both European and Indian "foreigners." - Weslager, C.A. The Nanticoke Indians: Past and Present. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1983.
LOCATION: Hornbake Maryland Room Maryland Stacks, McKeldin Library Stacks
CALL NUMBER: E99.N14 W483 1983
