Diversifying the Digital Historical Record: Integrating Community Archives in National Strategies for Access to Digital Cultural Heritage

The Amistad Research Center, in collaboration with the Shorefront Legacy Center, the South Asian American Digital Archive, Mukurtu, and the Inland Empire Memories Project of the University of CaliforniaRiverside, requests $100,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services National (IMLS) Forum Grants program to host a series of forums that will focus on community archives integration in a National Digital Platform. The goal of Diversifying the Historical Record is to address the potential impact for increased representation of marginalized communities and people in our digital cultural heritage. This project wholly embodies IMLS championing of diversity and inclusion in their publication IMLS Focus: The National Digital Platform and its finding that “Significant portions of the conversation focused on diversity and inclusion in the national digital platform, acknowledging that this is both a challenge and a priority area.”