Artstor Digital Library: Native American Studies
Search Tips
To find examples of Native American musical instruments, pottery, and other utilitarian objects browse museums with encyclopedic collections (e.g. The Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Cleveland Museum of Art) and select the category for Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects.
Search within the collection of George Eastman House to view historical photographs of Native Americans.
Browse the collections of the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia to view a wide array of Native American artifacts.
Suggested Search Terms
Try these sample search terms to find images related to Native American studies. Don't forget to use the search filters to narrow your results.
This page highlights Artstor content related to the experiences and cultural traditions of Native Americans, illustrated by historic and contemporary photographs of ceremonial scenes, architecture and landscapes, as well as studio portraits of individuals and tribal delegations. Artifacts of material culture such as baskets, textiles, tools, masks, and costumes and apparel are also available.
Featured Collections
Artstor’s Native American studies content is sourced from museums, photo agencies, and archives such as:
- Canyonlights World Art Image Bank: Art, Architecture, and Archaeology
- Native American Art and Culture Collection (National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution)
- Ferguson-Royce Archive: Pre-Columbian Photography (University of Texas)
- Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University
Curated Image Groups
Artstor's Education and Content teams curate groups of images in a number of disciplines. The below image groups are available for Native American studies:
You can save these groups as your own and modify them by opening a group, logging in to your registered Artstor account, selecting "Organize" from the top menu, and then "Save image group as..." To add or remove images, open your copy of the group and begin editing.
Did you know?
Photographer Susan Silberberg-Peirce of Canyonlights World Art Image Bank has documented prehistoric and Native American sites in the Southwestern United States. In 2006, Silberberg-Peirce traveled to New Mexico to photograph ancient Pueblo and Mogollon archaeological sites and petroglyphs at Chaco Canyon, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, Jemez State Monument, Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, Petroglyph National Monument, and Three Rivers Petroglyph Site.