AHA Session 80
Saturday, January 4, 2025: 8:30 AM-10:00 AM
Bowery (Sheraton New York, Lower Level)
Chair:
Marion McGee, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of African American History and Culture
Panel:
Catiana Foster, Tuskegee University
Timmia King, George Mason University
Raymond (Garrad) Lee, Jackson State University
Barbara Twyman, Florida A&M University
Shyheim Williams, Clark Atlanta University
Timmia King, George Mason University
Raymond (Garrad) Lee, Jackson State University
Barbara Twyman, Florida A&M University
Shyheim Williams, Clark Atlanta University
Session Abstract
The HBCU History and Culture Access Consortium (HCAC) is an initiative to digitize, preserve, and make visible the rich historical collections at HBCU archives and museums. This project was launched by The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture (NMAAHC) and The Smithsonian Office of Strategic Partnerships in March 2021. The HCAC project is part of The Smithsonian’s commitment to sustainable HBCU cultural institutions and to preserve and interpret African American art, history, culture, and memory. This project, in its pilot phase, partners with five HBCU institutions – Clark Atlanta University Museum (Georgia), The Florida A&M University’s Meek-Eaton Archives and Museum (Florida), Jackson State University’s Margaret Walker Center (Mississippi), Texas Southern University Museum (Texas), and Tuskegee University Archives (Alabama). The final output for this project includes a digital public history website that highlights collections from these archives and museums that will launch in the Summer of 2025. The Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (RRCHNM) at George Mason University, in partnership with The Smithsonian, hosts and manages the digital public history portions of the project. RRCHNM also trains HBCU partners in project-related Digital Humanities (DH) tools and methods.
In this roundtable, panelists from HBCUs serving as project managers and fellows on the HCAC project join project managers and strategists from The Smithsonian and RRCHNM to discuss the various components of undertaking a collaborative digital public history project of this scale. The roundtable will focus on different aspects of the HCAC project: building a “community of practice” that aims at co-creating multimodal digital projects as opposed to a top-down design approach; innovative ways of public history-focused data curation and digitization standards; and building capacity and skills within HBCUs to do digital history.
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