Skip to Main Content

IPLP Resource Guide: American Indian Law

RESEARCH GUIDES

In addition to the National Indian Law Library's selected list of Indian Law Research Guides, this list provides links to guides from various academic libraries useful for research:

FREE DATABASES

Native American Ethnobotany Database

This database covers foods, drugs, dyes and fibers of Native American Peoples, derived from plants. The database may be searched by a text string or by species or by tribe. The text string may also be filtered by tribe and/or use category. The database entries include links to the species in the USDA database which may include a legal tab for the species. For example, a search for saguaro links to 96 documented used in the ethnobotany database. Clicking any of the links for a specific tribe and use will then provide the link to Carnegiea gigantea in the USDA plant database. Note that tribal names may not conform to current usage.

Native Nations Institute Indigenous Governance Database

The database provides free access to 1500 video, audio, and text resources. The database is searchable by native nation, format, and search terms. An account is required to access the content. NNI requires an account to access the database; however, registration is free.

United Nations Division for Social Policy and Development Indigenous Peoples

This UN website provides links to many resources including the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) Recommendations Database and reports by the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Country reports for the Special Rapporteur Missions to the United States for 2012 and 2017 included Arizona.

United States Census Bureau

The Census Bureau website includes many resources for research with tribal data. Tribal Affairs - American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) provides information on resources. The site includes the web tool My Tribal Area that provides easy access to American Community Survey (ACS) statistics for population estimates, jobs, housing, economy, and education. Tribal Tract Reference Maps "show and label tribal census tracts and tribal block groups as delineated to support 2010 Census data dissemination" as well as show "the boundaries and names of American Indian reservations, off-reservation trust lands (ORTLs), Alaska Native areas, Hawaiian home lands, states, counties, county subdivisions, and places."

USPTO Native American Tribal Insignia

The United States Patent and Trademark Office's Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) records the official insignia of federally and state-recognized tribes. The recordal is not the equivalent of registration of a trademark. The website links to the FAQs page about the database as well as notices, public hearings, and other documents.