Abstract
The Katherine A. Spilde Papers on Native American Gaming include materials collected by anthropologist Katherine Spilde about Native American gaming and the greater gaming industry. The materials date from 1789 to 2015, with the bulk of materials dating from 1995 to 2010. Materials dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are reproductions of key court opinions and treaties concerning Native American rights and sovereignty. The majority of the materials document Native American gaming following the passage of the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). The papers detail Native American gaming enterprises both on and off reservations, the socioeconomic impact of gaming, and the legislative history of Native American gaming in the United States. The papers include research and subject files created by Dr. Spilde during her employment with the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC), the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA), and the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development (HPAIED). The collection includes socioeconomic reports; testimonies; correspondence; memos; press releases; photographs; audiovisual materials; promotional materials from casinos and tourist attractions; brochures; fact sheets; summaries; booklets; pamphlets; advertisements; tourism materials; journal articles; legal briefs; legislative documents; court opinions; Dr. Spilde’s notes; presentations; packets, agenda, schedules, and itineraries from conferences; periodicals; Native American and community newspapers; and newspaper articles. The collection includes materials about over one hundred federally recognized Native American nations. Also included are materials that document the socioeconomic impact of gaming, the international gaming industry, criminal activities related to gaming, advertising about gaming and casinos, lotteries, internet gaming, compulsive gambling, and bankruptcy as a result of gambling.
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Scope and Contents Note
The Katherine A. Spilde Papers on Native American Gaming include materials collected by anthropologist Katherine Spilde about Native American gaming and the greater gaming industry. The materials date from 1789 to 2015, with the bulk of materials dating from 1995 to 2010. Materials dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are reproductions of key court opinions and treaties concerning Native American rights and sovereignty. The majority of the materials document Native American gaming following the passage of the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). The papers detail Native American gaming enterprises both on and off reservations, the socioeconomic impact of gaming, and the legislative history of Native American gaming in the United States. The papers include research and subject files created by Dr. Spilde during her employment with the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC), the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA), and the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development (HPAIED). The collection includes socioeconomic reports; testimonies; correspondence; memos; press releases; photographs; audiovisual materials; promotional materials from casinos and tourist attractions; brochures; fact sheets; summaries; booklets; pamphlets; advertisements; tourism materials; journal articles; legal briefs; legislative documents; court opinions; Dr. Spilde’s notes; presentations; packets, agenda, schedules, and itineraries from conferences; periodicals; Native American and community newspapers; and newspaper articles. The collection includes materials about over one hundred federally recognized Native American nations. Also included are materials that document the socioeconomic impact of gaming, the international gaming industry, criminal activities related to gaming, advertising about gaming and casinos, lotteries, internet gaming, compulsive gambling, and bankruptcy as a result of gambling.
The collection contains documentation on a number of Native American nations, including the Misi-zaaga'iganiing Anishinaabeg (Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Mille Lacs Band); Gaa-waabaabiganikaag Anishinaabeg (Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, White Earth Band); Forest County Bodéwadmi (Forest County Potawatomi Community); Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin; Mashantucket Pequot Indian Tribe; Mohegan Tribe of Indians; Tulalip Tribes of Washington; Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation; Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota; Mandan, Hidatsa, and Sahnish (Arikara) (Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota); and Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Other communities are also represented in the collection but to a lesser extent. The collection documents regional and national trends in Native American gaming, and the greater gaming industry in the United States and internationally. Materials trace federal and state relationships with individual Native American nations, specifically concerning gaming enterprises.
- 1998
- Dr. Spilde received a PhD in Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Cruz
- 1998-1999
- Dr. Spilde worked as a Policy Analyst and Staff Writer for the National Gambling Impact Study Commission's (NGISC) Subcommittee on Indian Gaming.
- 1999-2001
- Dr. Spilde worked as the Director of Research for the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA).
- 2001-2004
- Dr. Spilde worked as a Senior Research Associate for the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development (HPAIED).
- 2003
- Dr. Spilde worked as a committee member for the National Council on Problem Gaming (NCPG).
- 2004-2008
- Dr. Spilde worked as the Executive Director for the California Center for Native Nations at the University of California Riverside.
- 2008
- Dr. Spilde started work as the Chair of the Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming at San Diego State University.
Access Note
Collection is open for research, with the exception of materials that are protected by FERPA. Restrictions are noted at the file level of this inventory.
Use copies of recordings do not exist, reformatting/production of use copies is required before access will be granted; this may delay research requests. Advanced notice is required.
Publication Rights
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.
Arrangement
Materials were arranged based on Dr. Spilde’s projects when it was clear that materials belonged to a specific project; however, since the topics addressed by different projects are closely related in some cases, some materials may overlap across projects. Other materials were arranged based on indications that they belonged with materials in that series.
The collection is arranged in three series:
Series I. Regional subject files, 1859, 1908, 1970-2016;
Series II. Professional activities files, 1980-2015;
Series III. General subject files, 1789, 1793, 1823-1832, 1851, 1883, 1886, 1903, 1909, 1971-2014.
Biographical / Historical Note
Katherine A. Spilde, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist who specializes in the social, economic, and political impact of casino gaming on American Indian tribal governments and communities in the United States. Dr. Spilde starting investigating the impacts of tribal government gaming in 1994 when she started ethnographic fieldwork in her hometown of Mahnomen, Minnesota. That work became the foundation of her PhD dissertation, “Acts of Sovereignty, Acts of Identity: Negotiating Interdependence through Tribal Government Gaming on the White Earth Indian Reservation,” at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1998.
After completing her PhD, Dr. Spilde worked as a policy analyst and report writer for the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC), which sought to identify the social and economic impacts of gambling in the United States, including those stemming from tribal government-owned gaming enterprises. After the NGISC released its Final Report in 1999, she worked as the Director of Research for the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA), where she established national research initiatives, created economic development and tribal gaming policy platforms, and established the open-source National Indian Gaming Library and Resource Center. In 2001, Dr. Spilde left her position at NIGA to work as a Senior Research Associate for the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, which focuses on identifying social and economic impacts of gaming on American Indian communities. In 2000, Dr. Spilde was appointed to the Board of the National Council on Problem Gaming, a Washington DC organization that develops national policy and assistance programs for people affected by problem gambling.
In 2004, Dr. Spilde became the Executive Director for the Center for California Native Nations at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), organizing and overseeing the first state-level impact study of tribal government gaming in California. Since 2008, Dr. Spilde has been an associate professor in the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at San Diego State University, where she created the nation’s first four-year degree in Tribal Casino Operations Management. She also serves as the Endowed Chair of the Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming. In 2016, Dr. Spilde was appointed to the Board of the National Center for Responsible Gaming, a nonprofit that funds research about pathological and youth gambling in the US.
“About Us | National Council on Problem Gambling.” Accessed January 17, 2017. http://www.ncpgambling.org/about-us/.
“About NCRG | NCRG.” Accessed January 17, 2017. http://www.ncrg.org/about-ncrg/.
Preferred Citation
Katherine A. Spilde Papers on Native American Gaming, 1789-2015. MS-00092. Special Collections, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Acquisition Note
Materials were donated in 2013 and 2016 by Katherine Spilde; accession numbers 2013-028 and 2016-001.
Processing Note
The collection was minimally processed by Tom Sommer in 2014 at the time of accessioning. In 2016, as part of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) grant-funded project "America's Great Gamble," Hannah Robinson, Lee Hanover, and Hana Gutierrez processed, arranged, and described the materials. The biographical note was written by Dr. Katherine Spilde.
In all cases, the names of federally recognized Native American nations used in the finding aid were taken from the “Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs” compiled by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the 2016 edition of the Federal Register. However, when autonyms and native language names were available, they were placed before the Federal Register name. Outdated Federal Register names were also listed if the current Federal Register name had been edited or changed significantly by the government. For non-federally recognized nations, the name found on the primary document in the collection or the name found on the group’s website was used. Canadian First Nations names were drawn from the “Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada” website.
Sources:
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs. Notice. “Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible to Receive Services from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs.” Federal Register 81, no. 86 (May 4, 2016): 26826-26832.
“Search by First Nation.” Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, June 14, 2016. http://fnp-ppn.aandc-aadnc.gc.ca/fnp/Main/Search/SearchFN.aspx?lang=eng.
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Separated Materials
Publications with more than five issues of a single title were separated, added to UNLV University Libraries' holdings, and cataloged individually in the Libraries' catalog.