The alexandria black history museum will digitize, interpret, and make four of their important collections publicly accessible

The City of Alexandria, Virginia will receive $486,757 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the Museum Grants for African American History and Culture program (CFDA 45.309) to support the Alexandria Black History Museum's efforts to digitize, interpret, and provide public access to four of its collections totaling approximately 20,000 digitized records and images. Two internships will assist with digitization and updating catalog records. The Museum will develop a series of small online exhibitions exploring stories from the archives related to civil rights and equity, along with aligned public programs and K-12 curriculum. By improving collections care, management, and access through this two-year project grant, the Museum aims to offer an expanded public program and curriculum leading to increased knowledge of Alexandria's African American history.

The digitization process will include creating or updating catalog records and scanning or photography of collections items, resulting in approximately 20,000 records with images for public access. Two internships will assist with the digitization of the collection updating catalog records. A series of small online exhibitions will be developed that will explore the stories of individuals from the archives and their respective roles in the overarching theme of civil rights and equity, along with public programs and k-12 curriculum aligned with these exhibitions. By digitizing collections to provide better access, improving collections care by reducing future handling, and maintaining better collections management by employing trained staff, the museum will be able to offer an expanded program and curriculum, leading to increased public knowledge of alexandria's african american history.