Harvard Pledges $6 Million for Joint Project to Digitize African American History Collections at HBCUs

Harvard pledged $6 million to finance a project between Harvard Library and the HBCU Library Alliance that will digitize and preserve African American history collections held at historically Black colleges and universities, the University’s library system announced Wednesday morning.

The project is scheduled to run for four years and is funded by Harvard’s Legacy of Slavery initiative, which received $100 million from the University to redress ties to slavery. The collaboration between Harvard Library and the HBCU Library Alliance will seek to expand public access to the archives housed by HBCUs.

Tiwanna S. Nevels, chair of the HBCU Library Alliance’s board of directors, said in a Wednesday press release that archives at HBCUs are “rich with artifacts for scholars to understand the past in preparing for the future.”

“The HBCU Library Alliance is delighted to be in partnership with Harvard University as we advance our mission to preserve and make accessible the historical legacies of these institutions,” Nevels said in the release. “This multi-year project will center itself on deepening the capacity of these historical collections through digitization.”

Loretta Parham, a co-founder of the HBCU Library Alliance who currently serves as director of the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library, said the project will build off of the Alliance’s other collaborative work over the past two decades.

“I am thrilled beyond measure about this commitment from Harvard Library and its partnership with the Alliance that will expand upon the collaborative work begun in 2007 to make our materials digitally accessible,” Parham said. “Students, faculty, scholars, and others will benefit greatly from this project.”

The collaboration between Harvard Library and the HBCU Library Alliance is the latest announcement in recent weeks by the University to implement the Legacy of Slavery report’s third recommendation, which calls on Harvard to develop lasting partnerships with historically Black colleges and universities.

Harvard announced late last month that University President Lawrence S. Bacow will appoint Ruth J. Simmons as a senior adviser to the president of Harvard on engagement with HBCUs. Simmons most recently served as president of Prairie View A&M University before stepping down from the role at the end of February.

Martha J. Whitehead — who serves as the head of Harvard Library — wrote in an emailed statement to The Crimson that “Harvard Library must show itself to be a trustworthy and respectful partner to the Alliance in this venture before we talk about future projects.”

“Right now, we are focused on this project, as there is still much planning to be done around the specifics of the work over the next four years,” Whitehead wrote. “The immediate next step is hiring a program director who will work with AUC Woodruff Library, the host of the HBCU Digital Library, and with Harvard Library to develop full program details.”

—Staff writer Miles J. Herszenhorn can be reached at miles.herszenhorn@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @MHerszenhorn.