Heart of the Monster - Weippe Prairie NPS Photo - Nez Perce National Historical Park

The National Register of Historic Places is pleased to promote awareness of and appreciation for the history and culture of American Indians and Alaska Natives during National American Indian Heritage Month.
This site showcases

New listings in the National Register
Past Higlights
American Indian properties in Travel Itineraries
American Indian properties featured in Teaching with Historic Places Lesson Plans
American Indian Heritage in the National Parks
Learn More
You can find more properties in the National Register of Historic Places listed for American Indian Heritage by doing an advanced search for the American Indian Area of Significance in our database.

Featured Historic Properties for American Indian Heritage Month 2009:

Black Hawk Powwow Grounds, circa 1880-1920 Image from file

Bainbridge Ferry
Cape Girardeau County, Missouri
The Bainbridge Ferry, in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, is the location where thousands of people from the Cherokee Nation were transported across the Mississippi River from November 1837 and January 1839, during the Cherokee Trail of Tears.

Past highlights:

Picotte Memorial Hospital, Walthill, Nebraska
This National Historic Landmark is a one and one-half story frame building that was constructed in 1912-13 to serve as a facility for the practice of Dr. Picotte, the first American Indian woman to practice medicine in the United States.

Cuyler Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York
Reverend Cory welcomed American Indians to his church. Learning their language was only one of the ways he met his new congregants on their own terms. He also translated religious readings into the Mohawk-Oneida dialect, and promoted the reacquisition of Indian traditional culture, making the resources of the church available to the native community for that purpose.

McCord Village, northern Wisconsin
Settled around 1890-1900 by Potawatomi, Ojibwe and related American Indians, the population of McCord was composed of inter-tribal marriages and offspring of Midewiwin and Big Drum societies from the Potawatomi and Ojibwe nations, and also some medicine people from the HoChunk and Menominee Nations.

Effigy Mounds National Monument, northeastern part of Iowa
At the present time, 191 mounds are preserved within the monument, 29 of which are animal-shaped mounds.

Ponca Tribal Self-Help Community Building Historic District, Nebraska
A meeting place, learning and cultural center for the Ponca Tribe

Southwestern Range and Sheep Breeding Laboratory Historic District, New Mexico
Part of a New Deal program to improve sheep breeding and wool production and preserve Navajo culture

Campus Center, Alaska
Site of the Alaska Federation of Natives conference of 1971

Ch'ichu'yam-bam (Soda Rock), Plumas County, CA
A meeting place, learning and cultural center for the Maidu people.

Indian Creek State Park, San Juan County, UT
Newspaper Rock Petroglyph Panel, located in this park, is a fine example of Ute art work and that of earlier cultures.

Navajo Nation Council Chamber, Window Rock, AZ
Center of government for the Navajo Nation and a symbol of the New Deal revolution in federal Indian policy during the 1930s.

Saint Joseph of the Lake Church and Cemetery, Menominee, WI
Community center for the South Branch Menominee and a place for the preservation and continuation of their traditional life-ways.

Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall, Sitka, AK
Home to the original chapter of an organization representing the interests of Alaska natives.

Pascua Cultural Plaza, Tucson, AZ
A sacred ceremonial site for the Yoeme (Yaqui) people, where the community's traditions continue today.

Hydaburg Totem Park, Hydaburg, AK
A park established by the federal government and local Native Alaskans to protect their works of art and culture.

Chilocco Indian Agricultural School, Newkirk, OK
An off-reservation agricultural school for Native American Indian children from tribes across the country.

White Eagle Park, Kay County, OK
The Ponca Powwow, held annually at the White Eagle Park in Kay County, Oklahoma, has disseminated elements of Ponca culture to other tribes, establishing the template for the intertribal contest powwow now practiced nationally.

Ponca Tribal Self-Help Community Building District, Niobrara, NE (feature from 2003)
A meeting place, learning and cultural center for the Ponca Tribe

Weippe Prairie, Nez Perce National Historical Park, ID
It was on the Weippe Prairie that the Nez Perce tribe befriended the Expedition led by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1805-1806.

Wupatki National Monument, Coconino County, AZ
What began as family housing grew into Wupatki Pueblo that stood three stories high in
places.

Teaching With Historic Places

Knife River: Early Village Life on the Plains, one of the featured lesson plans NPS photo courtesy of Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site

• TwHP American Indian History Feature
• The Battle of Honey Springs:
  The Civil War Comes to the Indian Territory
• The Battle of Horseshoe Bend:
  Collision of Cultures
• The Battle of Oriskany: "Blood Shed a Stream Running Down"
• Bryce Canyon National Park: Hoodoos Cast Their Spell
• Gran Quivira: A Blending of Cultures in a Pueblo Indian Village
• Knife River: Early Village Life on the Plains
• The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Documenting the Uncharted Northwest
• San Antonio Missions: Spanish Influence in Texas
• Tonto National Monument: Saving a National Treasure
• The Trail of Tears: The Forced Relocation of the Cherokee Nation
  

American Indians were the first explorers and settlers of the American Southwest. Learn more about their distinctive cultures they established here. Photo by and courtesy of Shannon Davis

Travel Itineraries Travel to historic places that convey the rich cultural heritage of our American Indian population with inspiring stories of their perseverance across America. American Southwest Lewis and Clark Expedition Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Pipestone, Minnesota Indian Mounds of Mississippi Along the Georgia-Florida Coast Three Historic Nevada Cities: Carson City, Reno, Virginia City

American Indian Heritage in the National Parks

Learn More

Presidential Proclamation: National American Indian Heritage Month 2008

Library of Congress American Indian Heritage Month Portal
This web portal brings together the work of several government agencies to promote National American Indian Heritage Month

Indian Health Service
This website provides a calendar of events and further links, including a Brief History on the Creation of a National American Indian Heritage Month.

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation: Tribal Historic Preservation Officers
Visit this website for more information on the 1992 U.S. Congress adoption of amendments to the National Historic Preservation Act (P.L. 102-575) that allow federally recognized Indian tribes to take on more formal responsibility for the preservation of significant historic properties on tribal lands.

Tribal Preservation Program
Learn more about the National Park Service (NPS) Tribal Preservation Program that assists Indian tribes in preserving their historic properties and cultural traditions.

Online Museum Exhibits
Discover American Indian artifacts from Chaco Canyon, Hubbell Trading Post and Bandelier National Monument in online exhibits of the NPS's Museum Management Program.

Archeology Program
The NPS Archeology Program encourages public interest in and stewardship of the sites contributing to our national heritage. See especially their features on The Earliest Americans, Ancient Architects of the Mississippi and Coso Rock Art.

Applied Ethnography Program
The NPS Applied Ethnography Program is concerned with living communities and the resources that are important to these groups. The program's role in the National Park Service includes providing information about groups who "assign significance to places closely linked with their own sense of purpose, existence as a community, and development as ethnically distinctive peoples."

Library of Congress: Built in America (HABS/HAER/HALS)
The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) and Historic American Landscape Survey (HALS) collections document achievements in architecture, engineering, and design in the United States, including sites related to American Indian history and culture. Searches on keywords like "American Indian," or on a specific tribe like the Cherokee, will provide information on an array of associated sites. Most of the site records have publication-quality drawings, photographs and historical data.

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)
The National NAGPRA Program develops regulations and guidance for implementing NAGPRA, provides training, assists Indian tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations and museums with the NAGPRA process, and manages a grants program.

National Congress of American Indians
The National Congress of American Indians, founded in 1944, is the oldest, largest and most representative national Indian organization serving the needs of a broad membership of American Indian and Alaska Native governments.

American Indian Heritage Foundation
The American Indian Heritage Foundation builds bridges of understanding and friendship between Indian and non-Indian people.

Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian
The newly opened Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian fosters, protects and promotes an understanding of Native American cultures by collaborating with indigenous peoples across the Western Hemisphere. Visit the American Indian Heritage Month calendar of events.

Department of the Navy--Naval Historical Center
American Indians have participated with distinction in United States military actions for more than 200 years. The Navy highlights their involvement online in: 20th Century Warriors: Native American Participation in the United States Military.

American Indian Policy Center
The American Indian Policy Center has put together a resources list that provides access to information about US tribal relations, enrollment, sovereignty, and treaties. It also provides access to more information from the Center.

Index of Native American Resources on the Internet
Native American Resources on the Internet provides a wealth of links to learn more about Native Americans on the internet.

NativeWeb: Resources for Indigenous Cultures Around the World
Developed by a group of historians, independent scholars, and activists, NativeWeb offers a gateway to more than 4,000 historical and contemporary resources relating to more than 250 separate nations.

American Indian Tribal Histories Project (website: http://www.ywhc.org/aithp/index.php?topgroupid=&groupid=1) is one of the programs of the Western Heritage Center. The mission of the American Indian Tribal Histories Project is to preserve and maintain American Indian tribal histories and cultures, from an American Indian perspective, for future Generations to come.

Native American Resources Online
USA People Search has put together a useful page of links to Native American resources online.

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