author
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
1793–1864
Best known for tracing the Mississippi River to its source, this early American explorer also became one of the 19th century’s most widely read writers on Native American cultures and traditions. His work helped shape how many readers encountered the Great Lakes region and Indigenous stories, even as modern readers often approach his legacy with a critical eye.
16 Audiobooks
The American Indians Their History, Condition and Prospects, from Original Notes and Manuscripts
by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
Notes on the Iroquois or, Contributions to the Statistics, Aboriginal History, Antiquities and General Ethnology of Western New-York
by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes on the American Frontiers
by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
An Address, Delivered Before the Was-ah Ho-de-no-son-ne or New Confederacy of the Iroquois Also, Genundewah, a Poem
by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, William H. C. (William Howe Cuyler) Hosmer
Scenes and Adventures in the Semi-Alpine Region of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas
by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
Algic Researches, Comprising Inquiries Respecting the Mental Characteristics of the North American Indians, First Series. Indian Tales and Legends, Vol. 2 of 2
by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
Algic Researches, Comprising Inquiries Respecting the Mental Characteristics of the North American Indians, First Series. Indian Tales and Legends, Vol. 1 of 2
by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
Alhalla, or the Lord of Talladega: A Tale of the Creek War. With Some Selected Miscellanies, Chiefly of Early Date.
by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
Western Scenes and Reminiscences Together with Thrilling Legends and Traditions of the Red Men of the Forest
by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
Incentives to the Study of the Ancient Period of American History An address, delivered before the New York Historical Society, at its forty-second anniversary, 17th November 1846
by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
The Indian Fairy Book From the Original Legends
by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
Narrative of an Expedition Through the Upper Mississippi to Itasca Lake, the Actual Source of This River Embracing an Exploratory Trip Through the St. Croix and Burntwood (or Broule) Rivers
by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
The Myth of Hiawatha, and Other Oral Legends, Mythologic and Allegoric, of the North American Indians
by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
Summary Narrative of an Exploratory Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820 Resumed and Completed, by the Discovery of its Origin in Itasca Lake, in 1832
by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
About the author
Born in New York in 1793, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft built an unusually varied career as a geographer, geologist, explorer, ethnologist, and author. Reference sources including Encyclopaedia Britannica and Wikipedia describe him as especially notable for his 1832 expedition to the source of the Mississippi River and for his extensive writing about Native American peoples, particularly in the Great Lakes region.
Schoolcraft spent important years in the American Midwest, where he took part in expeditions, worked as a government Indian agent, and published accounts that mixed travel writing, natural history, and ethnographic observation. His books introduced many readers to the landscapes and cultures of the interior United States, and his collected work on Indigenous languages, histories, and traditions became influential in its time.
Today, he is remembered both for his energy as a field observer and for the limits of the era in which he worked. Readers still turn to his writing for its historical value, especially on the early United States frontier and the upper Great Lakes, while also recognizing that his interpretations reflected 19th-century attitudes.