HBCU history digitized
Founding of Historically Black Colleges and Universities Celebrated
Online Collection Includes More Than 1,000 Scanned Items from HBCU Institutions
Blacknews.com
Ithaca, NY (BlackNews.com) - The first digital collection of documents and materials chronicling the founding of America’s historically black colleges and universities is now available online at contentdm.auctr.edu
“A Digital Collection Celebrating the Founding of the Historically Black College and University” includes more than 1,000 scanned photographs, manuscripts, letters and publications from 10 institutions designated as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).
The project, which was funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, represents the first collaborative effort by HBCU libraries to make a historical collection digitally available. The online collection, which is hosted by the Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University Center, is the product of a partnership between the HBCU Library Alliance, HBCU institutions, the Southeastern Library Network (SOLINET) and Cornell University.
The contents of the collection date back to the early 1800s and include campus charters, student yearbooks, early campus architectural drawings, and a rich assortment of photographs featuring first presidents, graduating classes, famous alumni and churches, which often served as the first classrooms at several of these institutions.
“This is an excellent resource for scholars and others interested in understanding the importance of institutions of higher learning founded by African-Americans. It offers direct access to original documents and images chronicling the story of these institutions, which are usually only available to researchers by travel to the institutions themselves,” said Dorothy Autrey, chair of the history and political science department at Alabama State University. (more…)
