American Indian Research Database Funded by National Endowment for the Humanities
Date: 2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jeanette Smith, NMSU Library, (575) 646-7492, jcsmith@lib.nmsu.edu
The New Mexico State University Library has received an award for $127,893 from the National Endowment
for the Humanities (NEH) Division of Preservation and Access to create a comprehensive and current
bibliography of almost 12,000 graduate theses and dissertations addressing American Indian topics. Dr.
Charles T. Townley is the principal investigator.
Theses and dissertations are the largest single source of primary research information about Native American
peoples. By expanding access to this research information, the two-year project will facilitate the work
of tribal libraries collecting information on their own tribe and region. It will encourage improved quality in
research and scholarship on American Indian topics, and it will increase opportunities for cross-cultural
research. The project will build on two previous editions of The American Indian in Graduate Studies by
Frederick and Alice Dockstader, published by the Museum of the American Indian in 1957 and 1974. The
project is intended to address NMSU diversity and state-wide service goals as well as the Library’s goal to
provide user-focused products and services.
Dr. Townley will work with an advisory committee of nationally known scholars and librarians to create the
bibliography. University Microfilms, Inc., will also be cooperating on the project by providing access to
their bibliographic records. An electronic register of current research will provide information about American
Indian research in progress. “I have wanted to do this project for 15 years,” said Townley. “It will be a
great advance in American Indian scholarship and strengthen NMSU’s role in the Native American community.”
The NEH Division of Preservation and Access provides leadership and support for a sustained national
effort to create, preserve and increase the availability of resources that assist research, education and public
programming in the humanities, and that are of critical importance to our cultural heritage. The division
places a priority on the support of major education and training programs and research and demonstration
projects that will help establish a permanent infrastructure of knowledge for preservation and access activities
in the U.S. For more information, please contact Dr. Townley at 646-7121 or ctownley@lib.nmsu.edu.
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