Yale University and the Yale Indian Papers Project have received a Scholarly Editions grant of $225,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to support “The New England Indian Papers Series: The State of Connecticut Collection, 1784-1869.” Slated to begin in the spring of 2014, this award will allow the Indian Papers Project, a Yale-based scholarly editing endeavor and collaborative research initiative, to add nearly 700 primary source documents written by, about, or for Connecticut Indians to its open access electronic archive.
“In an increasingly competitive funding environment this award is not only an affirmation of the work that we do but also sustains Yale’s commitment to Native American and Indigenous Studies,” said Dr. Paul Grant-Costa, the project’s executive editor.
Coming from sources as varied as Connecticut county and superior court records, passed and rejected legislation of the General Assembly, personal correspondence, journals, and photograph collections, the materials in “The State of Connecticut Collection, 1784-1869” will make virtual and intellectual access to otherwise disparate material a reality for an untold number of students, teachers and researchers, Native and non-Native. Taken together, the documents reveal a continued American Indian presence in the region from the time of the early republic to just after the Civil War and provide insight into Connecticut Native history and culture, as well as the State’s 19th -century Indian policies.
For more information on “The New England Indian Papers Series” or the Yale Indian Papers Project, visit http://www.library.yale.edu/yipp or contact indianpapersproject@yale.edu