The international african american museum will preserve, interpret, and responsibly share a rare collection of nineteenth-century daguerreotypes and prioritize long-term preservation while expanding…

The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded the International African American Museum $814,610 on September 1, 2026, under the Museum Grants for African American History and Culture program (CFDA 45.309) to preserve, interpret, and expand access to a rare collection of nineteenth-century daguerreotypes.

The museum will develop an ethical interpretive framework, conservation documentation, and collections care protocols for the daguerreotypes while conducting historical research on each photograph and the individuals depicted. The project includes creating high-resolution digital reproductions, multimedia interpretation, and expanded educational programming. Through conservation assessment, improved storage systems, environmental monitoring, and handling protocols, the museum will stabilize the objects and ensure their availability for future research and interpretation. The work targets the museum's primary audiences—students, educators, scholars, and visitors—to deepen knowledge of these daguerreotypes as historical records connected to human lives and ancestral histories.

Performance occurs in Charleston, South Carolina, with a period of performance from July 1, 2025, through August 31, 2028. The Museum Grants for African American History and Culture program supports projects that build institutional capacity and increase access to collections at African American museums and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

The international african american museum will preserve, interpret, and responsibly share a rare collection of nineteenth-century daguerreotypes and prioritize long-term preservation while expanding access through scholarship, digital resources, and educational programming. Project activities include creating an ethical interpretive framework, conservation documentation and collections care protocols for nineteenth-century daguerreotypes, conducting research on each individual and historical context of the photographs, generating high-resolution digital reproductions along with multimedia interpretation and expanded educational programming. Through conservation assessment, improved storage systems, environmental monitoring, and handling protocols, the museum will stabilize these objects and ensure their availability for future research and interpretation. The project aims to deepen knowledge and strengthen critical analysis among the museum's primary audiences, including students, educators, scholars, and visitors, while establishing the daguerreotypes as historical records connected to human lives and ancestral histories that foster empathy, respect, and thoughtful engagement with the past.