CLIR Announces Digitizing Hidden Collections: Amplifying Unheard Voices Awards
Fifteen projects will receive a total of just over $4 million
The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) today announced the award of $4,003,037 to fund 15 digitization projects through the Digitizing Hidden Collections: Amplifying Unheard Voices program. Forty-nine organizations located in twenty-one US states and four Canadian provinces will be involved in the projects celebrating the voices of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, Deaf and Disabled, LGBTQ+, and immigrant communities, often in intersecting ways, through contributions to art, public media, oral histories, and education.
See the full list of projects and summaries at https://www.clir.org/hiddencollections/funded-projects/.
This is the first cohort of projects supported by the reimagined Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives program, which is generously funded by the Mellon Foundation. With a thematic focus, the new program seeks to fund digitization projects centered on materials that deepen public understanding of the histories of people of color and other communities and populations whose work, experiences, and perspectives have been insufficiently recognized or unattended. Both US and Canadian organizations were invited to submit proposals. The program’s independent review panel makes funding recommendations each year. CLIR relies on reviewers across programs and welcomes expressions of interest from those interested in serving.
CLIR was recently awarded bridge funding from the Mellon Foundation to complete the cohort’s award cycle and support the finalization, publication, and dissemination of a program assessment. The assessment, undertaken concurrently with the cycle, critically evaluated the implementation of the application and review processes and gathered feedback from applicants, reviewers, and staff. CLIR staff will apply the recommendations of the report as plans are formulated for future grant cycles and will issue a public report later in 2022. Those interested in receiving updates about the report’s availability are encouraged to sign up for CLIR’s Grants + Programs Newsletter.
The Council on Library and Information Resources is an independent, nonprofit organization that forges strategies to enhance research, teaching, and learning environments in collaboration with libraries, cultural institutions, and communities of higher learning.
