James E. Emery's project of several decades resulted in over three hundred hours of taping to record the culture, history, language, and songs of Native Americans. His earliest technology was an early record-making machine that recorded onto blank discs. He was given an old Edison cylinder phonograph, and he re-recorded some of those cylinders on his machines to preserve the oldest recording in his collection. Later, as technology became available, he used a reel-to-reel tape recorder to record the important events of his people. NOTE: OLC does not have the reel to reel recordings.

Lakota History captured in audio. Such topics covered are songs, stories, prayers and language. The collection ranges from 1945 to 1975. There are other tribes represented as well such as the Navajo, Arapaho and Northern Cheyenne.