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Welcome to the Catawba Nation Archives Online. Our mission to identify, collect, preserve, and make accessible materials relating to the history, language, and culture of the Catawba Indian Nation for the use of enrolled tribal members, tribal government entities, and the wider community for educational and research purposes. Therefore, we invite you to search our collections and learn more about the past, present, and future of the Catawba people.
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Searching the Catawba Nation Archives’ online catalog is a straightforward and user-friendly process, to learn more about using our search tools click the link below.
The best way to reach our staff is via email. Just click the link below and let us know what you need.
Archive Information: archives@catawba.com
Tech Support: info@maxcommunications.co.uk
The Ye Iswa, or People of the River, have lived alongside the Catawba River for over six thousand years. You can learn a little more about us by clicking the links below.
The Catawba are known around the world for our pottery, and archaeology has discovered remains of Catawba pottery dating back to roughly 1979 BCE. This ancient and practical art continues to the present day, with many contemporary Catawba potters using the same techniques as their ancestors.
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As a federally recognized tribe, the Catawba Indian Nation is a sovereign and self-governing nation. The Catawba Nation has a general council-style government, with the General Council composed of all enrolled tribal members age 18 and up. The General Council elects a Chief, Assistant Chief, Secretary, and two Committee People who serve as the Executive Committee and oversee day-to-day operations of the Nation.
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Catawba is an Eastern Siouan language once spoken widely in the piedmont regions of what is today North and South Carolina. The last fluent, native speaker of Catawba was Chief Samuel Taylor Blue, who died in 1959. Although sometimes referred to as an extinct language, the language has survived, and the Catawba Nation is working actively to revive its use.
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The Catawba have lived along the Catawba River for more than 6000 years. Demonstrating an uncanny knack for making beneficial alliances during the colonial and Revolutionary eras, and for navigating the shifting sands of US domestic Indian policies, the Catawba have managed to maintain their identity as a people, and to carry their heritage forward into the 21st century. Today, the Catawba remain a vibrant, modern, and rapidly growing tribe.
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