The heinz history center will process, rehouse, and digitize the african american collections held in their library and archives

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded a $381,869 Project Grant through the Museums for America (CFDA 45.301) program to The Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. The grant will fund the processing, rehousing, and digitization of the organization's African American collections, which document African American life and culture in the Western Pennsylvania region. Key activities include hiring an archivist to process the collection, improve preservation by rehousing materials in acid-free containers, and digitize the collections to make them freely accessible to the public on HistoricPittsburgh.org. In addition, the project will result in the development of programming and resources that utilize the collections, such as finding aids, public presentations, educational programs, articles, blog posts, and the creation of six Smithsonian Digital Learning Lab collections. The project will be completed over a three-year period from September 2024 to August 2027.

These collections document african american life and culture in the western pennsylvania region. The project will involve hiring an archivist who will work with the center's staff to undertake the processing of the collection, improve the preservation of the collection by rehousing them in acid-free containers, and digitize and create metadata to make the collections freely accessible to the public on historicpittsburgh.ORG. In addition to improving the preservation and accessibility of the collection, this project will result in the development of programming and resources that utilize the collections, including finding aids, public presentations, educational programs, articles and blog posts, as well as the creation of six smithsonian digital learning lab collections.