Livingston Lord Library
Northwest Minnesota Historical Center

General

Edward Denig, Five Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri (1961) -- a good general account of the major Native American groups that lived in or traversed the Minnesota area prior to and during European exploration and settlement.

Everett Edwards, "American Indian Contributions to Civilization," in Minnesota History, vol. 15 (Sept. 1934) -- still a valuable essay on how European settlers benefited from their peaceful interactions with the Native Americans during the exploration, fur trade and early settlement decades.

A.  Dakota (Sioux)

Gary Clayton Anderson, Kinsmen of Another Kind: Dakota-White Relations in the Upper Mississippi Valley, 1650-1862 (1984) -- excellent overview of its subject, with much information on the Minnesota region.

Mary Eastman, Dahcotah, or Life and Legends of the Sioux Around Fort Snelling (1849) -- like any such work by an early settler, Eastman's observations on Dakota life near Fort Snelling has limits and errors; but it is still one of the best narratives we have of early Dakota-European interactions.

Samuel Pond, The Dakota or Sioux in Minnesota as They Were in 1834 (1986) -- Pond's narrative has some of the same limitations as that of Eastman; it also has the same merit of containing details on Dakota life we would not have otherwise.

Mary Ann Clark Riggs, A Small Bit of Bread and Butter: Letters from the Dakota Territory, 1832-1869 (1996) -- nicely organized work on the life of a missionary to the Sioux in Dakota Territory.

Charles M. Robinson III, A Good Year to Die: The Story of the Great Sioux War (1995) -- although this book mostly concerns events in 1876 and 1877, Robinson's account contains background on the "Sioux Uprising" of 1862 in Minnesota, and has one of the best summaries to date on the cultural clashes of the Dakota and white settlers.

Doane Robinson, A History of the Dakota or Sioux Indians (1967) -- a decent narrative history of the Dakota, containing much information of their lives in the Minnesota area.

B.  Ojibway (Chippewa)

Frances Densmore, Chippewa Customs (1929) -- a fairly well done detailing of Ojibway cultural ways and beliefs.

Carolissa Levi, Chippewa Indians of Yesterday and Today (1978) -- a good narrative of Ojibway history.

Laura L. Peers, The Ojibwe of Western Canada, 1780 to 1870 (1994) -- of value to Minnesota history because of Peers' lucid account of how and why the woodland Ojibwe migrated westward onto the prairies and plains.

William Warren, History of the Ojibway Nation (1957) -- originally published in 1885, this work is still very valuable for the information that Warren gathered from years of studying Ojibwe culture and traditions.

C.  Others

Marcel Giraud, The Metis in the Canadian West (1986) -- translated from the original French edition, this two volume study is the most detailed work of Meti history and traditions.

William Green, ed., Oneota Archaeology: Past Present, and Future (1995) -- compilation of papers on the Oneota culture which dominated much of the upper Midwest region, including parts of Minnesota, during the period 1000-1600 AD.

Joseph K. Howard, Strange Empire: Louis Riel and the Metis People (1952) -- recently reprinted, this is a classic account of the Meti, their mixed Native American and French culture, and their troubled history in both the United States and Canada.