About the Program

Goucher College Mapping Special Collections for Research and Teaching at Goucher College For this project, staff and students will catalog a 4,000 volume collection of Anglo-Saxon, Middle English, and Early Modern English texts and manuscript collections related to American dance, education, Jane Austen, Maryland history, U.S. history, women's studies, H.L. Mencken, and women in science. More funded projects University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California Berkeley Cataloging Hidden Archives of Western Botany and Beyond This project will significantly improve access to the archival collections at the University and Jepson Herbaria, which document the history of western American botany from the 1860s to the present. The archives contain letters and field books of at least 200 individuals in addition to documents, photographs, and slides from scientists around the globe. More funded projects Goucher College Mapping Special Collections for Research and Teaching at Goucher College For this project, staff and students will catalog a 4,000 volume collection of Anglo-Saxon, Middle English, and Early Modern English texts and manuscript collections related to American dance, education, Jane Austen, Maryland history, U.S. history, women's studies, H.L. Mencken, and women in science. More funded projects Goucher College Mapping Special Collections for Research and Teaching at Goucher College For this project, staff and students will catalog a 4,000 volume collection of Anglo-Saxon, Middle English, and Early Modern English texts and manuscript collections related to American dance, education, Jane Austen, Maryland history, U.S. history, women's studies, H.L. Mencken, and women in science. More funded projects Litchfield Historical Society Litchfield Historical Society's Revolutionary Era and Early Republic Holdings This project will produce descriptions of varied collections related 18th and 19th century America. Among the materials to be processed will be the archives of the Litchfield Female Academy, founded by Sarah Pierce. Image: Sarah Pierce, attributed to George Catlin, c. 1830. Watercolor on ivory. More funded projects Litchfield Historical Society Litchfield Historical Society's Revolutionary Era and Early Republic Holdings This project will produce descriptions of varied collections related 18th and 19th century America. Among the items related to the Revolutionary War are many letters, including this 1779 message from Peter Colt to Captain Moses Seymour, urgently requesting food supplies for American militiamen. More funded projects Litchfield Historical Society Litchfield Historical Society's Revolutionary Era and Early Republic Holdings This project will produce descriptions of varied collections related 18th and 19th century America. An example of the Society's Revolutionary War materials is this 1779 letter from Peter Colt to Captain Moses Seymour requesting supplies: "lose not a moments time - pick up every bit of public Flour on the Road & send it forward - and purchase all the Flour, Wheat, Rye, Corn in your district". More funded projects New York University The Records of the Communist Party, USA: A Preservation and Access Project This project will create finding aids for the records of the Communist Party, USA and the Library of the Reference Center for Marxist Studies, which together document the history of Communism and the American Left in the 20th century. Image: Hunger Marchers, Washington DC, 1932. Daily Worker photograph morgue, Tamiment Library. More funded projects New York University The Records of the Communist Party, USA: A Preservation and Access Project This project will create finding aids for the records of the Communist Party, USA and the Library of the Reference Center for Marxist Studies, which together document the history of Communism and the American Left in the 20th century. Image: Paul Robeson, Harlem, c. 1950. Daily Worker photograph morgue, Tamiment Library. More funded projects New York University The Records of the Communist Party, USA: A Preservation and Access Project This project will create finding aids for the records of the Communist Party, USA and the Library of the Reference Center for Marxist Studies, which together document the history of Communism and the American Left in the 20th century. Image: Workers Alliance of New York, 1936. Daily Worker photograph morgue, Tamiment Library. More funded projects Northwestern University Library The Africana Posters: Hidden Collections of Northwestern and Michigan State University Libraries Through this project, over 3000 posters held by Northwestern and Michigan State University Libraries will become bibliographically accessible to scholars and students worldwide. More funded projects University of Michigan Library Collaboration in Cataloging: Islamic Manuscripts at Michigan This project involves the creation and exposure of digital surrogates and catalog records for 1,250 manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish dating from the 8th to the 20th centuries. Its website will provide unified access to records and digital surrogates and will allow scholarly experts to contribute bibliographic information and commentary. More funded projects Amistad Research Center, Tulane University Working for Freedom: Documenting Civil Rights Organizations This project will process and catalog nine collections of personal papers documenting Civil Rights era history, including branch and local chapter records of key Civil Rights organizations that have been hidden within the personal papers of individuals who were participants or officers. Image credit: Ronnie Moore Papers. More funded projects Amistad Research Center, Tulane University Working for Freedom: Documenting Civil Rights Organizations This project will reveal nine collections of personal papers documenting Civil Rights era history, including branch and local chapter records of key Civil Rights organizations that have been hidden within the personal papers of individuals who were participants or officers. Image credit: Ronnie Moore Papers. More funded projects Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center Processing the Voter Education Project Collection This project focuses on archival materials related to the Atlanta-based Voter Education Project (1954-1992), which was formed to increase political participation for minorities and develop a more informed electorate. More funded projects California Historical Society The California Ephemera Project This project is creating in a searchable, online catalog linking the ephemera collections of four institutions: the California Historical Society; the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society; the San Francisco Public Library; and Society of California Pioneers. More funded projects Getty Research Institute Uncovering Archives and Rare Photographs: Two Models for Creating Accession-level Finding Aids Using Archivists' Toolkit This project will document two archival processing methods used to describe varied collections documenting the intersections of art and language in the 20th century. Materials selected for cataloging include 26,000 rare photographs. Image credit: Émile Fréchon, Ouled Näil women playing cards, 1890s. Ken and Jenny Jacobson orientalist photography collection. More funded projects Getty Research Institute Uncovering Archives and Rare Photographs: Two Models for Creating Accession-level Finding Aids Using Archivists' Toolkit This project will document two archival processing methods used to describe varied collections documenting the intersections of art and language in the 20th century. Materials selected for cataloging include 26,000 rare photographs. Image credit: A Coracle, Nos. 11 & 12, ii (detail). Coracle Press records, 1961-2001. More funded projects Emory University/Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History Archives from Atlanta, Cradle of the Civil Rights Movement: The Papers of Andrew Young, SCLC, and NAACP-Atlanta Chapter This three-year project involves processing materials relating to key civil rights organizations, leaders, and activities. The collections include materials related to some of the most transformational moments and movements of the era, including voter education, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the fight against Jim Crow laws, and desegregation. More funded projects Emory University/Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History Archives from Atlanta, Cradle of the Civil Rights Movement: The Papers of Andrew Young, SCLC, and NAACP-Atlanta Chapter This three-year project involves processing materials relating to key civil rights organizations, leaders, and activities. The collections include materials related to some of the most transformational moments and movements of the era, including voter education, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the fight against Jim Crow laws, and desegregation. Image: Andrew Young and the Rev. Fred Bennett. More funded projects Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture at the College of Charleston Providing Access to African American Collections at the Avery Research Center This project involves historical materials related to African American culture in coastal South Carolina, including the Holloway family scrapbook, papers and oral histories of civil rights leaders, materials related to the experiences of African American women and sweet grass basket makers, and the notes, recordings, artifacts, and files of renowned anthropologists Joseph Towles and Colin Turnbull. More funded projects University of Pennsylvania Libraries Hidden Collections in the Philadelphia Area: A Consortial Processing and Cataloging Initiative This two-year collaborative project involves processing select collections identified as being of high scholarly importance during the recently completed survey of the unprocessed holdings of the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL). Project staff and the graduate students working at 23 libraries record their progress on the project's blog and via Twitter and Flickr. More funded projects University of Pennsylvania Libraries Hidden Collections in the Philadelphia Area: A Consortial Processing and Cataloging Initiative This two-year collaborative project involves processing select collections identified as being of high scholarly importance during the recently completed survey of the unprocessed holdings of the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL). Project staff and the graduate students working at 23 libraries record their progress on the project's blog and via Twitter and Flickr. More funded projects University of Pennsylvania Libraries Hidden Collections in the Philadelphia Area: A Consortial Processing and Cataloging Initiative This two-year collaborative project involves processing select collections identified as being of high scholarly importance during the recently completed survey of the unprocessed holdings of the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL). Project staff and the graduate students working at 23 libraries record their progress on the project's blog and via Twitter and Flickr. More funded projects Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley San Francisco Examiner Photograph Archive Project This project will arrange and describe the photograph morgue of the San Francisco Examiner, which comprises a comprehensive documentary record of life in Northern California over 75 years of the 20th century. Image credit: Photo by Blickfeldt. Examiner photo morgue library, January 21, 1942. More funded projects Brooklyn Historical Society Uncovering the Secrets of Brooklyn's 19th Century Past: Creation to Consolidation This project will reveal materials covering the period from 1834, when Brooklyn was first incorporated as a city, to its consolidation with New York City in 1898. Image credit: Map of the County of Kings, showing ward and town boundaries, October, 1869. More funded projects The California Digital Library Uncovering California's Environmental Collections: A Collaborative Approach This project will uncover 33 hidden collections at institutions across California, providing a multifaceted picture of the state's environment and environmental history. At left: Materials from CSU Fresno, Henry Madden Library, Special Collections Research Center; Humboldt State University Library, Special Collections; and UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library, Department of Special Collections. More funded projects Newberry Library French Pamphlet Collections at the Newberry Library This project will catalog four French pamphlet collections that are primary sources for legal, social and cultural history; literary studies; and the history of publishing in France. More funded projects Newberry Library French Pamphlet Collections at the Newberry Library This project will catalog four French pamphlet collections that are primary sources for legal, social and cultural history; literary studies; and the history of publishing in France. More funded projects Northeast Historic Film Intellectual Access to Moving Images of Work Life, 1916-1960 This project will create descriptive records for 50 significant film collections dating from the first half of the 20th century. For further information about the project, please see Northeast Historic Film's press release (PDF). At left: The A.S. Hinds Laboratory, Portland, Maine. Aurelius Hinds II Collection. More funded projects Northeast Historic Film Intellectual Access to Moving Images of Work Life, 1916-1960 This project will create descriptive records for 50 significant film collections dating from the first half of the 20th century. For further information about the project, please see Northeast Historic Film's press release (PDF). At left: Aurelius Hinds, the A.S. Hinds Laboratory, Portland, Maine. Aurelius Hinds II Collection. More funded projects Free Library of Philadelphia Milestones in 20th-Century American Children's Literature at the Free Library of Philadelphia This project involves the processing of six archival collections documenting key contributions to 20th-century American children's literature by renowned authors and illustrators. At left: Crictor, the boa pet, by Toni Ungerer. More funded projects Free Library of Philadelphia Milestones in 20th-Century American Children's Literature at the Free Library of Philadelphia This project involves the processing of six archival collections documenting key contributions to 20th-century American children's literature by renowned authors and illustrators. At left: Away Went the Balloons, by Carolyn Haywood. More funded projects North Carolina State University Libraries Changing the Landscape: Exposing the Legacy of Modernist Architects and Landscape Architects This project will uncover over 40,000 original plans and drawings in both paper and electronic formats as well as related project files and records, documenting the contributions of six influential architects active in the latter half of the 20th century. More funded projects North Carolina State University Libraries Changing the Landscape: Exposing the Legacy of Modernist Architects and Landscape Architects This project will uncover over 40,000 original plans and drawings in both paper and electronic formats as well as related project files and records, documenting the contributions of six influential architects active in the latter half of the 20th century. More funded projects George Mason University Uncovering a Forbidden World: Providing Access to East German Art, Culture, and Politics The goal of this project is to process and create EAD finding aids and bibliographic records for a collection of 7,300 posters from the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), representing film, performing and visual arts, and political organizations and spanning the entire time of the country's existence (1949-1990). More funded projects George Mason University Uncovering a Forbidden World: Providing Access to East German Art, Culture, and Politics The goal of this project is to process and create EAD finding aids and bibliographic records for a collection of 7,300 posters from the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), representing film, performing and visual arts, and political organizations and spanning the entire time of the country's existence (1949-1990). More funded projects Yale University Song, Speech, and Dance: Special Collections from the Recorded Sound Archives at Yale and Stanford Universities This collaborative project will describe audio and paper collections in the Historical Sound Recordings collection at Yale University and the Archive of Recorded Sound at Stanford University. At left: Poster from a Marcel Marceau performance, Ambassador Auditorium, Stanford University Archive of Recorded Sound. More funded projects Yale University Song, Speech, and Dance: Special Collections from the Recorded Sound Archives at Yale and Stanford Universities This collaborative project will describe audio and paper collections in the Historical Sound Recordings collection at Yale University and the Archive of Recorded Sound at Stanford University. At left: Recording from the Lawrence Tibbett Collection, Stanford University Archive of Recorded Sound. More funded projects Lehigh University The Moravian Community in the New World: The First 100 Years This collaborative project with the Moravian Archives will process a selection of collections documenting the material culture, religious values and cultural diversity of the Moravian community of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, from its founding in 1741 until the opening of the community to non-Moravians in 1844 and the subsequent incorporation of Bethlehem in 1851. More funded projects Lehigh University The Moravian Community in the New World: The First 100 Years This collaborative project with the Moravian Archives will process a selection of collections documenting the material culture, religious values and cultural diversity of the Moravian community of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, from its founding in 1741 until the opening of the community to non-Moravians in 1844 and the subsequent incorporation of Bethlehem in 1851. More funded projects

Libraries, archives, and cultural institutions hold millions of items that have never been adequately described. This represents a staggering volume of items of potentially substantive intellectual value that are unknown and inaccessible to scholars. This program seeks to address this problem by awarding grants for supporting innovative, efficient description of large volumes of material of high value to scholars.

The Council on Library and Information Resources administers this national effort with the support of generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The first fifteen projects were selected for funding in 2008, and fourteen projects followed in 2009. Projects selected in 2010 will be announced in December.

The primary criterion the review panel uses to evaluate projects is their potential national impact on scholarship and teaching. The second and third criteria are: innovative and/or highly efficient approaches to description that could serve as models for others, and the adoption of workflow and outreach practices that maximize connections to scholarly and other user communities. In addition, the panel requires application of description standards that would provide interoperability and long-term sustainability for project data in the online environment. Most U.S.-based not-for-profit cultural heritage institutions are eligible for the program. Applicants may nominate collections of any format and from any field worthy of national attention, but the collections in question must be truly hidden, that is, they must not currently be discoverable by scholarly users working within the subject domain, either through digital or analog means.

All nonconfidential information that applicants supply is made publicly available through CLIR's Hidden Collections Registry. Applicants are encouraged to use this Registry to find partners working with similar collections. Joint or collaborative applications are encouraged.

Although the program does not provide funds for the creation of digital surrogates of cataloged materials, CLIR hopes that many funded projects will ultimately be enhanced through the creation of publicly accessible digitized versions of the newly cataloged materials. For a more detailed description of the philosophy and mission of the Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives program, please see CLIR's original proposal to the Mellon Foundation (pdf).

Additional Information

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For further information, contact Amy Lucko, Program Officer, at hiddencollections@clir.org.