D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies
Founded in 1972, the D'Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies brings together scholars, teachers, students, tribal historians, and Native community members to promote research and improve the representation of Native peoples and histories in education and writing.
Scholar Nick Estes (Lower Brule Sioux Tribe) gives a public lecture on the history of Native American protest movements.
Featured Events
Consortium
The Newberry Consortium in American Indian and Indigenous Studies (NCAIS) provides essential training for graduate students in Indigenous Studies. Every year, students from member universities are invited to hone their research skills at a spring workshop, delve into the Newberry collection during a summer institute, and present their work at a graduate conference.
Projects
Special projects and initiatives run by the McNickle Center aim to shift how we study, teach, learn, and discuss Native history. For example, as part of "Indigenous Chicago," the center is currently partnering with Native communities to reposition Chicago as an Indigenous place and reframe how Chicagoans view the city's past, present, and future.
Community Outreach and Collaboration
Building reciprocal relationships with Native communities is a cornerstone of the McNickle Center’s work. The center has a long-standing relationship with the Native community in Chicago and has partnered with dozens of other Indigenous communities on a range of programs and projects throughout its fifty-year history.
We strive to connect Native communities with materials related to their cultures and histories at the Newberry. To inquire about a private group viewing of collection items, please email us.
In 2020, the Newberry revised its policy regarding access to culturally sensitive materials. The policy gives tribal nations more options for assigning protocols to specific items in the Newberry collection. Identification of these materials is still underway. We encourage researchers to review our policy closely, and we welcome input from tribal representatives.
Every October, the McNickle Center hosts a public event to re-center Native peoples who are often marginalized from American history.
The D’Arcy McNickle Distinguished Lecture Series celebrates Indigenous scholars, writers, and artists who consistently demonstrate excellence in their work concerning Indigenous peoples and histories and who actively address contemporary issues faced by American Indian and Indigenous communities. Usually held in November, past lectures have featured Ned Blackhawk, Leslie Marmon Silko, Winona LaDuke, and Nick Estes.
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The McNickle Center staff are Rose Miron, Director; Haku Blaisdell, Associate Director for Outreach and Strategy; and Sarah Jiménez, Program Assistant.
Research Fellowships
We offer short-term fellowship opportunities for scholars of North American Indian heritage.
View FellowshipsLand Acknowledgment
The Newberry sits on land that intersects with the aboriginal homelands of several tribal nations.
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