About the Database

 

The third edition of The American Indian in Graduate Studies: A Bibliography of Theses and Dissertations provides comprehensive web-based electronic access to the single largest source of scholarship and primary information about American Indians, almost 14,000 theses and dissertations, less than 60% of which are now available from any other single source.  This edition adds value to existing citations by upgrading them to a standard, machine-readable bibliographic description and providing full author abstracts where available.  It enhances intellectual access through improved indexing and authority control.  The bibliography is comprehensive through 2002 and includes all graduate degree-granting institutions in the United States and Canada, as well as four large Mexican universities.  The bibliography serves as an important international resource for Native American studies that is available on the internet.

 

This edition is built upon the pioneering work of Frederick and Alice Dockstader, who in 1957, recognized the need for enhanced intellectual access to theses and dissertations by compiling the first edition of The American Indian in Graduate Studies: A Bibliography of Theses and Dissertations.  The second edition was published as volume 25, part 1 and 2, of the “Contributions from the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation” series in 1974.  These volumes include 7,446 titles from 268 American, Canadian and Mexican institutions.  The first two editions cover theses and dissertations completed between 1890 and 1970.  The idea of preparing a third edition occurred to the editor when he was Director of the National Indian Education Association Library Project in the  1970s.  After completing a nine year term as the Dean of the New Mexico State University Library in 2001, the time seemed right to undertake the updating and enhancement effort that has resulted in the third edition.

 

Because of the oral and visual nature of the American Indian experience, theses and dissertations occupy a uniquely important role in American Indian scholarship.  Initial recording and documentation of scholarly knowledge often occurs as a part of graduate research.  The first and often the only reporting of this primary information takes place in graduate theses and dissertations.  Thus, theses and dissertations are often the only guides to and interpretations of primary data.  Without graduate research, many of the primary sources of knowledge would remain unknown and uninterpreted in the scholarly community.  Graduate scholarship about American Indians has grown significantly since 1970, the cut-off date for the second edition.  Some XXXX dissertations and theses have been accepted at participating institutions since that date.  The third edition provides full access to this material.

 

The database includes all theses and dissertations containing at least one chapter on American Indians accepted between 1890 and 2002 by institutions located in the United States and Canada as well as selected Mexican research universities.  These are very similar to criteria used in the first two editions of the bibliography.  They have worked well in the past and there are no new conditions that suggest substantial changes.  The scope has been expanded to include all U.S. and Canadian graduate institutions and four research institutions in Mexico. 

 

Each citation in the database contains up to nine data elements: (1) author; (2) title of the thesis or dissertation; (3) the university where the thesis or dissertation was produced; (4) the date publication; (5) the extent of the work expressed in pages; (6) notes from the first two editions; (7) an abstract from University Microfilms in the United States and Canada or project staff in Mexico; (8) subject/tribe terms in the form of Library of Congress subject headings; and (9) a control number for records supplied by University Microfilms.  The database supports English, French and Spanish languages on the assumption that scholars can use these languages where appropriate.  Native languages are reproduced as provided.  No attempt is made to assure common transliteration between citations.

 

The database is created with Procite and Endnote software.  The database is supported online with Filemaker Pro software.  Server support is provided by the New Mexico State University College of Education.  Annual updates are planned beginning in 2005.

 

A register of current American Indian graduate research is currently in design.  It is intended that this database will be available for descriptions of theses and dissertations in progress.  The intent is to provide a forum where individuals working on projects of mutual interest can meet and share ideas and resources.  The goal is to expedite research.  Graduate students and faculty are encouraged to contact Charles Townley at ctownley@nmsu.edu for additional information.

 

Acknowledgements

 

Acknowledgements are due first to Frederick Docksatder, retired Director of the Museum of the American Indian, and to Alice Dockstader, the editors of the first two editions.  Without their understanding of the need for this work and their Herculean efforts in the days before electronic library catalogs and databases, a third edition would have never come to be.  Their encouragement to undertake a third edition is gratefully acknowledged.

 

Thanks are also due to University Microfilms, especially William Savage and Mary Ann Gilbert, for providing UMI citations for theses and dissertations that might contain American Indian material.  Throughout this effort UMI set a high standard for private-public cooperation.  I look forward to future collaboration as the database is updated.

 

The National Endowment for the Humanities is due great thanks for providing financial support for this effort.  Special thanks for encouragement and sage advice are due to Joseph Herring in the Division of Preservation and Access.

 

The database staff have provided extraordinary service throughout this effort.  Betty Reynolds, retired Director of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Library, provided outstanding support in editing, upgrading and organizing the citations.  She also managed the authorities for the Library of Congress subject headings.   Tim Reed compiled the entries, identifying and entering additional data where needed, and merging files when appropriate to create complete citations.  His stamina and patience for this work is very commendable.  Adriana Flores identified and created abstracts for theses and dissertations from Mexico.  Her subject knowledge, initiative in working with the Mexican universities, and tranquil presence added immeasurably to the effort.  Arun Hariharan has worked miracles in designing web pages that are user friendly and efficient.  His insights and guidance in creating a web presence for the third edition are very welcome.  I have never worked with a better group of colleagues.  I look forward to continuing collaboration.

 

Two members of the New Mexico State University Library faculty also deserve thanks for their professional contributions to this effort.  Carol Boyse provided critically needed guidance on how to migrate data among the different software packages used in to create the third edition.  Jeanette Smith provided useful insights in proposal design and development.  The third edition would have never been completed without their selfless assistance.

 

Thanks are also due to advisory committee for the third edition who provided helpful advice during the proposal stage of the project and individual suggestions for enhancement of the database as work progressed.  Members include:

Amanda Cobb, Chickasaw, Associate Professor, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM

William Hagan, Professor Emeritus, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK

Mary Jacobs, retired Librarian, Museum of the American Indian Library, New York, NY

Kathy Kaya, Crow, retired Head of Reference Services, and Coordinator of the Tribal College Librarians Professional Development Institute, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT.

Virginia Mathews, Osage, Consultant, Center for the Book, Library of Congress,

Washington, D.C.

Lotsee Patterson, Comanche, Professor Emeritus, School of Library and Information Science, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK

 

Finally, the project would have never been realized without administrative support from the NMSU Department of Educational Management and Development and the College of Education Research Center.  Thanks are due to Maria Luisa Gonzalez, Department Head, Patrick Scott, and Karin Wiberg, Associate Deans for their efforts to provide administrative leadership.  Jennifer Villa is thanked for providing server support that assures internet access to the database.  Thanks are also due to Dacia Sedillo, Susie Quinones, and Angie Sanchez for financial and reporting guidance throughout the project.

 

As these acknowledgements attest, it surely takes a village to create a database.  The responsibility for the development and content of the third edition, however, remain solely with the editor.  As with any large reference work, there will be oversights and errors.  As a dynamic database, these mistakes can be corrected.  Users who discover mistakes are encouraged to report them to the editor, Charles T. Townley at the following web address ctownley@nmsu.edu   With your help the database will be enhanced and improved for the benefit of scholars and the Native American community.

 

Charles Townley, Ph.D.

Las Cruces, New Mexico

 

February, 2005