The Thomas John Blumer Collection on the Catawba Nation, 1756 - Present contains a wide variety of materials that have been created and collected by the donor over a 40-year period as he conducted his research on the Catawbas and other Native American peoples, with a focus on the pottery of the Catawbas.

The Collection contains slides, photographs taken by Dr. Thomas J. Blumer (as well as copies of older photographs that he borrowed from tribal members), audio tapes of interviews with Catawba leaders and potters, originals of diaries and correspondence with these leaders and potters, news clippings and related materials on the Catawbas, notes and research materials for lectures and publications by Dr. Blumer on the Catawba and other Native American tribes of the Southeast, and detailed “journals” (notes, correspondence, e-mails, clippings, records of conversations, etc.) kept by Dr. Blumer on his interactions with the Catawbas over the past 40 years.

This is a large documentary collection of materials on the Catawbas. The collection also provides documentation on the life, work, techniques, and products of the Catawba potters, an increasingly important group of artisans.