The university galleries at north carolina a & t state university will address an urgent need to strengthen the stewardship and accessibility of their african and african american cultural heritage…

The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University $100,000 on September 1, 2026, under the Museum Grants for African American History and Culture program (CFDA 45.309) to establish a sustainable digital framework for documenting, preserving, and sharing African and African American cultural heritage collections held by the University Galleries.

Project activities include cataloguing and digitizing collections, developing a digital collections platform, training students in collections documentation and digitization practices, and piloting an interdisciplinary digital interpretation initiative that integrates collections into academic coursework. An advisory board of museum professionals and scholars will provide guidance on collections documentation practices, educational use of collections, and community engagement strategies. The project commits to comprehensive documentation and high-quality digital images for at least 3,000 objects and significantly improved stewardship of the University Galleries' collections.

Work is performed in Greensboro, North Carolina through August 31, 2028. The Museum Grants for African American History and Culture program supports projects that build capacity at African American museums and HBCUs and support the growth and development of museum professionals, with goals of building institutional capacity to serve communities and increasing access to museum and archival collections.

The university galleries at north carolina a & t state university will address an urgent need to strengthen the stewardship and accessibility of their african and african american cultural heritage collections by establishing a sustainable digital framework for documenting, preserving, and sharing the collections with students, researchers, and the public. Project activities will include collections cataloguing and digitization, development of a digital collections platform, student training in collections documentation and digitization practices, and a pilot interdisciplinary digital interpretation initiative that integrates the collections into academic coursework. The project will involve an advisory board consisting of museum professionals and scholars who will provide guidance on collections documentation practices, educational use of the collections, and community engagement strategies. The outcome of project activities will be comprehensive documentation and high-quality digital images for at least 3,000 objects, and significantly improved care of the university galleries at ncat's collections.