The Treaties Trading Cards provide an accessible educational tool for becoming acquainted with the treaties between the United States and Native nations. The cards are a screen-free way for youth and others to get acquainted with the history and context of the 374 treaties held by the National Archives. They are also an easy entry point for working with the original primary source documents on the DigiTreaties.org website.
The Treaties Trading Cards make salient points of the the treaties and their contexts easily accessible through original illustrations by Native artists, details of the original documents, names of Native nations involved, map locations, date, and a brief description of the treaty. A QR code allows instant linking via a smartphone or tablet to the particular treaty on DigiTreaties.org in the context of its accompanying documentation and further resources of the Treaties Explorer tool.
The initial set of 24 Treaties Trading cards are comprised of eight cards representing the breadth and diversity of the treaties, plus 16 cards that represent the first 16 Ratified Indian Treaties in the holdings of the National Archives. The first eight cards include a card introducing the Treaties Explorer project, a card about the decades of research by Deloria and others about the treaties and locating further treaties not in the holdings of the National Archives, and six cards representing different geographic areas of the US, including Alaska and Hawaii.
The set of 24 cards will be a free download at DigiTreaties.org. Print copies will as be on sale online and via venues such as gift shops. Additionally, 600 copies will be distributed free to tribal nations' libraries and cultural centers in Spring 2021. A portion of the proceeds from sales of print copies supports server fees and maintenance for the DigiTreaties website.
Funding funding for this first set of 24 cards is thanks to an anonymous donor via the National Archives Foundation.