The National Indian Boarding School Digital Archives (NIBSDA) is a powerful new tool in the landscape of U.S. Indian boarding school research. Providing as much context to this information and content is crucial to your success in engaging with this challenging history.
LOCATING YOUR RELATIVES - RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND WHERE TO START?
Using this below Research Pathfinder will focus on common pieces of information that are found in the historic record. These common pieces of information can be gleaned from doing your best to answer the following questions:
What is my relative’s name and did they have any aliases or traditional names?
Do I know which State my relative went to boarding school at?
Do I know the name of the boarding school? What about the name of the agency?
Do I know any classmates that my relative attended boarding school with? What are their names?
Do I know any years of when my relative attended boarding school?
Do I know if the school my relative attended was a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) school?
Do I know what my relative looks like? Do I have an image to reference if I should come by photos in my research?
Do I know what heritage groups or historic communities my relative belonged to?
Boarding School Name Authority Files (NIBSDA) video includes an overview of how this dataset is used in the NIBSDA data curation environment and some quick tips on how you can use it to propel your research forward.
Personal Name Authority Files (NIBSDA) video includes an overview of how this dataset is used in the NIBSDA data curation environment and some quick tips on how you can use it to propel your research forward.
Tribal Nation Name Authority Files (NIBSDA) video includes an overview of how this dataset is used in the NIBSDA data curation environment and some quick tips on how you can use it to propel your research forward.
Access Points facilitate cross-collection browsability, searchability, and discoverability and can be leveraged to do advanced searching.
Established Access Points do play a key role in how users conceptualize and abstract their understandings of boarding school history and do serve as indicators for what these general subject areas within the NIBSDA data curation environment are.
The Importance of NIBSDA video includes an overview of the state of boarding school historical research, knowledges, and impacts on Native communities towards Truth, Justice, and Healing.
Healing Informed Care and Content Warning video contextualizes how archival truths can lead to empowerment and healing.
Historical Overview video provides an overview of the U.S. Indian boarding school era and the work being fulfilled for Truth, Justice, and Healing.