Native Language Materials from the Huntington Free Library

About this collection

This digital collection presents 124 published books in more than 25 North American indigenous languages. Spanning from the 1820s to the 1920s, the volumes were selected for digitization from the Huntington Free Library Native American Collection, which features a significant concentration of native language materials. The publications include Bible translations, grammars, vocabularies, and educational materials, with Cree, Dakota, and Ojibwe especially prominent.

The titles were selected for digitization by Cornell University Library curators in 2008-2009 to support the study and revitalization of indigenous languages through a freely accessible resource.

Historical context

Transferred to Cornell University on June 15, 2004 from its former home in the Bronx, NY, The Huntington Free Library Native American Collection contains extensive documentation on the history, culture, languages, and arts of the native tribes of both North and South America.

The rare portion of the Huntington Free Library Native American Collection features more than 4,000 rare books, several significant manuscript collections, as well as photographs, ephemera, and related materials.

More information on the context of this collection at Cornell can be found on the Rare and Manuscript Collections website.

Using the collection

The collection can be browsed or searched by language.

For more information about this collection, please contact the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections at rareref@cornell.edu.

More information

Collection steward

Katherine Reagan, Ernest L. Stern '56 Curator of Rare Books & Manuscripts

Metadata creation

Cornell University Library

Funding

National Endowment for the Humanities, Save America's Treasures: Preservation of the Huntington Free Library Native American Collection (PT-50039-06), awarded in 2006.

Credits

This collection overview was prepared by Katherine Reagan, Ernest L. Stern '56 Curator of Rare Books & Manuscripts, June 2025.

Collection sources

• Individually cataloged materials

Exhibits featuring items from this collection

• Vanished Worlds, Enduring People: Cornell University Library’s Native American Collection. An exhibition in the library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, October 2005 – June 2006.