Indigenous & First Nations Studies

The Native Health Database (NHD) was conceived in the early-1990s, when Dr. William W. Schottstaedt donated over 3,000 documents (dated from 1672-1966) as a collection of “Papers on Indian Health” to UNM's Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center (HSLIC). Under the leadership of Director Erika Love, a multi-year project (1993-1997) was undertaken by HSLIC's Janet Johnson and Henrietta Stockel to create a high-quality, single source of information resources focused on historical American Indian and Alaska Native health/medical issues. This would become the Native Health History Database. Contemporaneously, from 1997-2005, the United States Indian Health Service (IHS) contracted with HSLIC to create a unique resource for contemporary American Indian/Alaska Native bibliographic health and medical information. In particular, IHS wanted a space for descriptions of IHS research and reporting that was not typically published for public access. Separate from the Native Health History Database, this contractual arrangement with IHS saw over 5,000 abstracts (dated 1966-present) described in a new, Native Health Research Database. A new Director for HSLIC and strong advocate for the NHD, Holly Buchanan, was hired in 1998, and from 1998-2007 both databases were run separately until 2003 when they were combined into one URL and referred to as the Native Health Databases.

The NCTR Archives are intended to be a powerful agent of change in the country, allowing visitors to understand the history of Canada and the mistreatment of Indigenous Peoples. The archives currently house more than five million records in the collection, the majority of those created or collected by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) during its mandate. The NCTR also actively collects records on various issues and subject areas important to Indigenous communities across the country.