Greetings Colleagues, I trust you're well and safe. Exciting News to Share: As you recall, the HBCU Library Alliance was awarded a five-year NEH $365,000.00 1:1 matching challenge grant to support the Building Capacity for Humanities Special Collections at HBCUs program. The HBCU Library Alliance is required to raise $365,000.00 to meet the financial obligation of this grant. Thanks to fundraising efforts, the first and second year match requirements have been raised. A link to invest in the project can be found in my signature block. Thanks in advance for your support. This five-year program is designed to build capacity for the long-term preservation and conservation of collections at member libraries. It offers a menu of preservation planning documents, collection surveys, treatment and rehousing services, and educational programs to the member libraries. Through this outreach, the HBCU Library Alliance will assist the libraries in building capacity for fundraising for special collection initiatives, documenting cultural heritage materials, increasing accessibility of special collection items, and promoting the humanities significance of their broad collections of rare materials and their irreplaceable cultural heritage artifacts. Subgrant Awards The following twelve institutions applied for and will receive Subgrant awards. 1. Benedict College (SC) 2. Clinton College (SC) 3. Delaware State University 4. Fisk University (TN) 5. Hampton University (VA) 6. Johnson C. Smith University (NC) 7. Morehouse School of Medicine (GA) 8. South Carolina State University 9. Southern University & A&M College (LA) 10. Texas College 11. Tougaloo University (MS) 12. Tuskegee University (AL) The Selection Committee met on April 27 to review applications and make funding decisions. A budget of $130,000 is available for these awards. Committee members applauded the very detailed applications and depth of purpose and commitment to preservation expressed in materials. All committee members agreed that preservation of HBCU library collections must remain a strategic priority. Very early into the meeting, the Committee unanimously agreed to offer some level of funding to each institution that applied. This is important as we acknowledge the value and collections of all institutions. Humanities collections draw our attention to the resilient HBCU community devoted to the value of its history. Let me share just a glimpse of what we learned about our historic institutions and their amazing collections. 1. The Benedict College Historical Collection depicts the College's transformation over 150 years in providing a quality education for the once emancipated African-Americans to presently educating students of all races and nationalities. The collection depicts decades of students' campus life and College culture and events, but also shows how Benedict College through economic growth, development and a stable student population served to enhance the greater Columbia community. 2. Significant to Clinton College is its connection to the African Methodist Episcopal Church, with collections of yearbooks, circulars and other materials that show the progress of Clinton College. The institution has a proud heritage as a Christian College, striving to prepare men and women to be lifelong learners, active participants and good stewards of society. 3. The Delaware State University Archives and Special Collections contain records dating from the first-ever trustee meeting in 1891 through current day and student newspaper publications from 1912 through 2015. The Delaware State University Archives and Special Collections is the only repository dedicated to the education of African-Americans in the state of Delaware. 4. The collections of Fisk University draw scholars from around the world and contain some of the oldest and most definitive collections of African American history and culture. Since the school's opening in 1868, it has collected and preserved materials by and about African Americans. Fisk's collections are a major source for the study of the African-American experience. 5. The George Peabody Collection at Hampton University is recognized as one of the oldest and finest African-American Collections in the country. It encompasses all subjects relevant to the study of African-American history and culture and contains monographs, anti-slavery pamphlets, journals, clippings and materials relating to Hampton University. 6. The Johnson C. Smith University Charlotte Urban Renewal Collection consists of maps and manuscripts that detail government-sponsored urban renewal policies of the 1950's and 1960's. These policies resulted in the destruction of traditional African-American ring villages around Charlotte, the erasure of a vibrant self-made black cultural climate and the displacement of hundreds of black families. 7. Morehouse School of Medicine was founded in 1976 to recruit, train and educate minorities and other students to become physicians, biomedical scientists and public professionals committed to the primary healthcare needs of the underserved. Although small in size, the Morehouse School of Medicine is a leader among medical schools in the number of African-American MD recipients. Its photographic collection includes forty-four years of pictorial history. 8. South Carolina State University's Historical Collection and Archives holdings are strongest in twentieth century materials relating to South Carolina State University and the Orangeburg Massacre, a 1968 event in which twenty-eight African-American students were shot (three killed) on the campus of South Carolina State by the South Carolina National Guards while protesting against racial segregation. The event represents one of the earliest involving the shooting of student protesters on a college campus in the U.S. 9. The archives at Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge contain popular collections that include an original set of Slave Narratives (1935), the 1960 Baton Rouge Sit-Ins, and the 1953 Baton Rouge Bus Boycott, which was the model that inspired the Montgomery Bus Boycott that took place two years later. From these vast stories, scholars get a true sense of Southern University's unique culture, history, arts and where this institution fits in Louisiana's history. 10. Texas College was founded in 1894 by a group of Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) ministers. The CME church was founded in 1870 by forty-one former slave members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Texas College's collections contain materials related to the CME church and its impact on community, students and scholars. 11. Tougaloo College is presently celebrating its Sesquicentennial. Its archives function as a repository and research center for the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi. Its Lawyers Commission Collection contains records of cases including school desegregation, public accommodations and voting rights. 12. The Tuskegee University Special Collections unit consists of volumes on Africa and the African Diaspora dating from the 18th century to the present. Among the most significant portions of this collection are the more than 2,158 pamphlets pertaining to Civil Rights and Black issues during the period from 1900 to 1960. Colleagues, our institutions hold such significant, purposeful and powerful collections. Let's continue this important work to build capacity to support humanities collections at our institutions. Please contact me directly if you have questions or need additional information. Stay tuned! Sandra SANDRA M. PHOENIX HBCU Library Alliance Executive Director Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library 111 James P. Brawley Drive SW Atlanta GA 30314 404-978-2118 (office) 404-702-5854 (cell) http://www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> Honor the ancestors, honor the children and those yet to come. Building Capacity for Humanities Special Collections at HBCUs - Become an ally and partner with us to protect, preserve and share a more authentic record of American history. Follow this link http://hbculibraries.org/humanities-2019.html for more information. Follow this link http://hbculibraries.org/ and click on the Donate Now button to invest in this project. Your support is appreciated. Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/hbculibraryalliance1/ and Twitter at https://twitter.com/HBCULibAlliance Check out "PULSE!" The HBCU Library Alliance's News Source! - https://hbculibraryalliance.wordpress.com/