Of the 300 or so native languages once spoken in North America, only about 150 are still spoken--and the majority of those have just a handful of mostly elderly speakers. For most Native American languages, colleges and universities are their last great hope, if not their final resting place. People at a number of institutions across the country are working to document the languages so they do not become a lost part of American history. Where possible, they are trying to revitalize indigenous languages by teaching them to undergraduates, training schoolteachers, and creating language-learning materials. Here, the authors describe some of these efforts to preserve cultures by saving words.