Welcome to Archival Research Gaining access to archival and
special collections materials is essential for many forms of
research. For tribes, cultural centers, Native American and non-
native researchers, this access can be vitally important as
these resources are often at the very heart of land, water,
enrollment, and sovereignty claims. Archival materials have also
played a role in the efforts of cultural restoration among the
tribes as well as current ethnographic, historical, and multi-
disciplinary research by students and scholars. Scholars,
educators, legal teams, research consultants, students,
genealogists, and others are among the current and potential
users of these specialized library materials. Primary vs.
Secondary Sources Secondary sources generally can be described
as the sources which are created by people who are not
themselves part of the events or communities they are
discussing. Articles by historians, books by anthropologists,
dissertations by students, and newspaper articles by later-day