Updated collection titles

AM has updated the titles of two published resources. American Indian Histories and Cultures is now Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America and American Indian Newspapers is now Indigenous Newspapers in North America.

The change is a result of an ongoing review examining diversity and representation in relation to our resources. AM is committed to creating inclusive products. We hold ourselves accountable for the editorial framing of primary source collections and interrogating our decision-making processes. To learn more about the work we are doing, please read our Diversity and Representation statement.

Much of this work has supported the development of forthcoming resources. This allows us to concentrate on the vital work of disseminating under-represented historical voices, but we are also evaluating published products against our contemporary guidelines and any feedback we may have received. It is within this context that AM have made the change to terminology used to collectively describe Indigenous peoples in North America, both within the resources themselves and in the resource titles. While we understand that self-description differs across communities, we believe it is important to make this change to avoid any further use of terminology that is offensive to some Indigenous peoples.

Before implementing these changes, AM sought consultation from the academic and library community across North America. We are confident that at the time of publication, our editorial decisions were based on robust scholarly feedback from our Editorial Boards, but we also understand that terminology evolves over time. We gathered feedback from librarians, academics, archivists and organisations with Indigenous histories subject expertise, many of whom also identify as Indigenous themselves. We also sought feedback from members of the original Editorial Boards and source archives, and benefited enormously from feedback from our existing customers and users. We would like to sincerely thank all of those who entered into this discussion with us for their contributions and expertise.

In addition to adjusting these titles, we acknowledge the limitations of any term that seeks to homogenise the varied Indigenous cultures within North America – and present within the resources themselves– and make every effort to refer to individual communities where possible.

We continue to welcome feedback on our resources.