Books:

Adair, James. Adair's History of the American Indians. ed. Samuel Cole Williams. New York: Promontory Press, 1974.

Adair’s history was originally published in London in 1775 and could have been considered one of the most extensive books on Americans Indians up to that time.  For forty years Adair’s profession was as a trader, and his career allowed him to form close relationships with several tribes, which gave him the opportunity to observe their cultures up close.  His writing mainly concerns southern tribes, such as the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw.  The book explores many aspects of tribal life including language, diet, war, conflict resolution, and religion.

Bossu, Jean-Bernard. Travels in the Interior of North America, 1751-1762, trans. and ed. Seymour Feiler. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962.

This translated account of a junior French officer who served in Louisiana, Illinois, and other territories between 1751-1762 describes, in the form of letters, Indian customs, military activities, and life in New France.

Romans, Bernard. A Concise Natural History of East and West Florida. Publisher New York: Printed for the author, 1775.

“Romans's purpose in producing his Concise Natural History was twofold: to aid navigators and shippers by detailing the sailing passages of the region and to promote trade and settlement in the region. To these ends, he provided detailed scientific observations on the natural history of the area, a summary of the region's political history, and an assessment of the potential for economic growth in the Floridas based on the area's natural resources.”  --From the Publisher

West, Elliot. The Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers, and the Rush to Colorado. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998.

”The Contested Plains recounts the rise of the Native American horse culture, white Americans' discovery and pursuit of gold in the Rocky Mountains, and the wrenching changes and bitter conflicts that ensued.  Illuminating both the ancient and more recent history of the plains and eastern Rocky Mountains, West weaves together a brilliant tapestry interlaced with environmental, social, and military history.”  --From the Publisher

________. The Way to the West: Essays on the Central Plains. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1995.

“This history of the great migrations of the Cheyenne Indians and Anglo pioneers onto the arid Central Plains tells a complex story of the relationship between people and the environment. Elliott West turns his attention here to land, animals, families, and stories. Focusing on a region embracing parts of present-day Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming, he examines both the facts and myths of the migrations.”  --From the Publisher

Articles and Chapters:

Ferguson, Theresa A. "Wood Bison and the Early Fur Trade," in The Uncovered Past: Roots of Northern Alberta Societies, ed. Patricia Am McCormack and R. Geoffrey, Circumpolar Research Series No. 3.  Edmonton: Canadian Circumpolar Institute, University of Alberta, 1993.

Flores, Dan. "Bison Ecology and Bison Diplomacy: The Southern Plains from 1800 to 1850." Journal of American History 78, no. 2 (1991): 465-485.

Flores focuses on the environmental side of the rapid decline of buffalo in order to discover answers to the following questions: Why were the Comanches able to replace the Apache on the bison-rich Southern Plains?  If the bison herds were so vast in the years before the commercial hide hunters, why were there so many reports of starving Indians on the Plains by 1850?  By examining earlier factors in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Flores tries to interpret the historical and environmental relationship between the Plains Indians and the bison.

_________."The Great Contraction: Bison and Indians in Northern Plains Environmental History," in Legacy: New Perspective on the Battle of the Little Bighorn, ed. Charles Rankin.  Helena: Montana Historical Society, 1996.

“A Ranger's Report of Travels with General Oglethorpe, 1739-1742," in Travels in the American Colonies, edited under the auspices of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, ed. Newton D. Mereness. New York, Antiquarian Press, 1961.

Rostlund, Erland. "The Geographic Range of the Historic Bison in the Southeast." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 50, no. 4 (1960): 395-407.

The purpose of this article is to determine how far the range of the American Bison extended into the eastern and southern United States.  Rostlund examines historical documents and accounts where the range has been outlined on maps.  Rostlund contends that the range of the bison was further east and South than previously believed.