10/12/2026
Today is Indigenous People's Day,
The AGSL acknowledges in Milwaukee that we are on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee homeland along the southwest shores of Michigami, North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes, where the Milwaukee, Menominee and Kinnickinnic rivers meet and the people of Wisconsin’s sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida and Mohican nations remain present.
Maps and photographs from our collections attempt to capture the complex and rich history of Native America, and we hope that you take time today to reflect upon the roles we all play in the histories and realities of colonial expansion and native sovereignty in the United States.
Photos 1 & 3: From Crow Nation in Crow Agency, between 1934 and 1969, from the Clarence W. Sorensen Collection
Photos 4 & 5: From Window Rock Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, between 1934 and 1969, from the Clarence W. Sorensen Collection
Photo 2: Navajo woman with children in Monument Valley, ca. 1950s, from the Harrison Foreman Collection
Map 1: Native American nations: traditional names & locations, Aaron Carapella, 2021.
Map 2: Central Great Lakes native lands c.1800 & today / the Ways Great Lakes Native Culture & Language, a production of Wisconsin Media Lab, 2013.
Map 3: Indigenous peoples of North America, 1500 CE / Maps.com., 2021
Map 4: Indian land cessions, Sam B. Hilliard; cartographic design by Dan Irwin and staff of the Southern Illinois University Cartographic Laboratory, 1972.
Maps 5 & 6: Indian land areas judicially established 1978, Geological Survey (U.S.) and Indian lands areas / compiled by the Handbook of North American Indians (Smithsonian Institution) in cooperation with the Bureau of Indian Affairs ; prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey., 1992
