Resources & Collections

at UVa

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Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library

The Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library administers over 13 million manuscripts, 3.6 million items in the University archives, and 325,000 rare books, as well as approximately 5,000 maps, over 4,000 broadsides; more than 250,000 photographs and small prints; over 8,000 reels of microfilm; and substantial holdings of audio recordings, motion picture films, and ephemera. The major emphases of the collections are American history and literature, with additional substantive collections in Virginiana, British literature, African-American history, book arts, the history of sporting and World War I, among others.

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Fralin Museum of Art

Image of the front of the Fralin Museum The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia encourages the spirit of curiosity and promotes diversity of thought through the study, care, and celebration of art. Our values:

Learning: Curiosity is important to us.
Empathy: Understanding is important to us.
Diversity: Communities are important to us.
Respect: Civil discourse is important to us.
Stewardship: Protecting The Fralin’s collection for future generations is important to us.

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Indigenous Studies Library Guide

Lucie Stylianopoulos (Librarian for Art, Archaeology, Classics, and Indigenous Studies at UVA) created the LibGuide for Indigenous Studies at UVA. The guide includes many open access resources, as well as links to databases such as American Indian Histories and Cultures, and American Indian Newspapers.

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Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities

The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH) is a research unit of the University of Virginia established in 1992. Our goal is to explore and develop information technology as a tool for scholarly humanities research. To that end, we provide our Fellows with consulting, technical support, applications development, and networked publishing facilities. We also cultivate partnerships and participate in humanities computing initiatives with libraries, publishers, information technology companies, scholarly organizations, and other groups residing at the intersection of computers and cultural heritage. IATH projects include:

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Institute of the Humanities & Global Cultures

The Institute of the Humanities & Global Cultures (IHGC) at UVA offers a vision at once local and global, and a mission both academic and socially engaged. The IHGC aims to:

  • Generate exciting research and curricular innovation in global humanities and the Global South
  • Attract the world’s best researchers to Virginia
  • Create a broad cross-disciplinary research community
  • Build collaborative partnerships with institutions nationally and internationally
  • Offer a conducive training ground for doctoral and postdoctoral scholars
  • Support undergraduate curricular and co-curricular initiatives
  • Promote the arts
  • Foster civic training
  • Facilitate extensive public engagement
  • Advocate the value of the humanities in the public sphere.
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Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection

Image of the interior of the Kluge-Ruhe The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection is the only museum outside of Australia dedicated to the exhibition and study of Indigenous Australian art.

Vision: A world in which Indigenous peoples are listened to, and their arts and cultures are honored and celebrated.

Mission: To expand knowledge and understanding of Indigenous Australian arts and cultures to cultivate greater appreciation of human diversity and creativity.

 Values: 

  • We respect Indigenous people as the authorities on their art and culture, and we strive to amplify their voices.
  • We collaborate with partners across the globe to deepen our impact and extend our reach.
  • We create inclusive and welcoming environments that promote cross-cultural dialogue.
  • We aim to inspire discovery through research and experiential learning.
  • We steward all of our resources – our collections, facilities, staff and volunteers – with care and respect.
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UVA-based computing resources

ArcGIS/Storymaps - StoryMaps is a web application builder that allows you to give context to your ArcGIS Online maps. Whether telling a story, giving a tour or comparing historic maps, StoryMaps is an easy-to-use application that creates a polished presentation.

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Virginia Humanities

Virginia Humanities is the state humanities council. We’re headquartered in Charlottesville at the University of Virginia, but we serve the entire state. We aim to share the stories of all Virginians—or, better yet, find ways for people to share their own stories. We want Virginians to connect with their history and culture and, in doing that, we hope we’ll all get to know each other a little better. We offer grants and fellowships to showcase and help preserve the Commonwealth’s diverse history, heritage, and folklife traditions. See our Encyclopedia Virginia entry on Virginia Indians, and The Virginia Indian Archive, a collection of images, documents, and audiovisual resources representing the history and cultural experiences of Virginia Indians since colonial times.

In the Region

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Monacan Living History Exhibit, Natural Bridge, Virginia

During a 45-minute tour of the Monacan Living History Exhibit at Natural Bridge, students and groups learn about the culture of the Monacan Indians, the effects of European settlers and trade goods on Native American life, and the value of archaeology in discovering past cultures. A special emphasis is placed on the use of waterways and natural resources for survival. Features of the exhibit include a newly constructed wigwam, longhouse, cooking area, men’s work shelter, and trading post. Interpreters can customize programs for K-12 students to cover Virginia and U.S. history, civics, and geography SOLs.

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Monacan Museum

The Monacan community today centers around Bear Mountain in Amherst County. Our tribal museum is located at this site, in an 1870s log cabin originally built as a church for the Monacan people and later used as the community school. Now a National Historic Landmark, the museum was developed by the Monacan people with grants from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, the Sweetgrass Foundation, and the Easley Foundation.

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National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC

The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is an active and visible component of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum complex. The NMAI cares for one of the world's most expansive collections of Native artifacts, including objects, photographs, archives, and media covering the entire Western Hemisphere, from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego.

The National Museum of the American Indian operates three facilities. The museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., offers exhibition galleries and spaces for performances, lectures and symposia, research, and education. The George Gustav Heye Center (GGHC) in New York City houses exhibitions, research, educational activities, and performing arts programs. The Cultural Resources Center (CRC) in Suitland, Maryland, houses the museum's collections as well as the conservation, repatriation, and digital imaging programs, and research facilities. The NMAI's off-site outreach efforts, often referred to as the "fourth museum," include websites, traveling exhibitions, and community programs.

Since the passage of its enabling legislation in 1989 (amended in 1996), the NMAI has been steadfastly committed to bringing Native voices to what the museum writes and presents, whether on-site at one of the three NMAI venues, through the museum's publications, or via the Internet. The NMAI is also dedicated to acting as a resource for the hemisphere's Native communities and to serving the greater public as an honest and thoughtful conduit to Native cultures—present and past—in all their richness, depth, and diversity.

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Pamunkey Museum

The Pamunkey Museum and Cultural Center is a tribal museum located on the Pamunkey Indian Reservation. The museum focuses on the Pamunkey Indian Tribe’s history and way of life from 12,000 years ago through to the present, focusing on four major themes: People, Natural Environment, Settlement, and Subsistence.

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Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

War Shirt by Unknown Artist VMFA’s Native American art collection includes objects dating from prehistoric times to the present day. Geographic regions that are particularly well represented include the Arctic North, Northwest Coast, Plains, and Southwest. The collection encompasses a great variety of media, including textiles, ceramics, beadwork, sculpture, painting, and photography.

Spanning approximately 3000 years, VMFA’s Pre-Columbian collection includes over 200 ceramic vessels, textiles, sculptures and metalwork objects from Meso, Central and South America.

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Indigenous Tourism e-Library of the Americas

The Indigenous Tourism e-Library of the Americas includes tools, resources and information to help communities, businesses and organizations better manage indigenous tourism. 

The Indigenous Tourism Collaborative of the Americas is a network of representatives from Indigenous organizations and tourism industry organizations including travel companies, ministries of tourism, state tourism offices, tourism nonprofits, Tribal colleges and academia.

The collaborative is steered by the George Washington University International Institute of Tourism Studies, the Organization of American States and the U.S. Department of the Interior, supported by the Office of Indian Economic Development and the White House Council on Native American Affairs.

We envision a future where Indigenous communities across the Americas benefit from sustainable tourism development—where tourism provides a path to…

  • Greater awareness and understanding
  • Economic growth
  • The protection of cultural heritage and natural resources
  • Self-determination
  • Healing
  • Reunification