CLIR Announces Digitizing Hidden Collections: Amplifying Unheard Voices Awards

$4 Million Awarded to 18 Projects in the US and Canada

The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) proudly announces the award of $3.97 million to fund 18 transformative digitization projects through the Digitizing Hidden Collections: Amplifying Unheard Voices program. These initiatives, involving 28 organizations across 11 U.S. states and three Canadian provinces, will illuminate the stories and contributions of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, Disabled communities, LGBTQ+ individuals, and immigrant groups.

Many projects explore intersections across these identities, contributing to fields such as art, public media, oral histories, and education. By digitizing these materials, the program ensures that new generations can engage with and learn from the stories, contributions, and cultural heritage of underrepresented groups.

Selected by an independent review panel, the awarded projects aim to amplify historically overlooked voices, providing opportunities for public engagement and understanding. A complete list of projects and summaries is available at https://www.clir.org/hiddencollections/funded-projects/.

This work is central to CLIR’s mission of fostering access to knowledge and promoting equitable access to cultural heritage. This marks the second round of funding under the newly reimagined Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives program, generously funded by the Mellon Foundation. The program focuses on thematic digitization efforts, prioritizing materials that deepen public understanding of historically marginalized communities and unrecognized perspectives.

“Public discourse requires an honest and rigorous understanding of our past; it is imperative that we expand access to these vital materials to foster scholarship and enrich our collective knowledge,” said CLIR president Charles Henry. “The Mellon Foundation’s support allows us to amplify these unheard voices, ensuring that they inform a more equitable and inclusive historical narrative in service to the public good.”

For ongoing updates and the latest information about CLIR grants, sign up for CLIR’s Grants + Programs Newsletter.

About CLIR

The Council on Library and Information Resources is an independent, nonprofit organization that collaborates with libraries, cultural institutions, and communities of higher learning to develop strategies to enhance research, teaching, and learning environments.

About The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. Learn more at mellon.org

Happy November from the Society of Black Archaeologists! 

We’re thrilled to share exciting updates and highlight new opportunities for the SBA community. Thank you for being with us—we hope you enjoy what’s in store this month!

OPPORTUNITIES

• The Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD) has extended their 2025 Conference call for papers – all proposals should be submitted by December 6, 2024. Acceptances will be issued on a rolling basis. They encourage multidisciplinary panels defined by diversity across identity markers, including but not limited to age, race, gender, sexuality, ability, academic rank, language, and geographies among others. More info here: [LINK]
• The International Gullah Geechee and African Diaspora Conference will be held at Coastal Carolina University (Conway, SC) on February 20-22, 2025. The conference theme is Reconstruction Through the Lens of Gullah Geechee and Communities within the African Diaspora. Paper/projects abstracts are accepted on a rolling basis until November 15, 2024.

UPCOMING EVENTS

• The Relevance of LGBTQ+ Historical Archaeology | Wednesday, December 4, 2024 – 7PM ET –  Finding LGBTQ+ people in the historic past is both important and challenging. By bringing suppressed histories to light, a more complete picture of the past is possible. The Brush Up series of workshops, organized by Archaeology in the Community (AITC) and sponsored by the Society of Black Archaeologists, are designed to provide participants with skills in developing public programs, working with communities, documenting local heritage, and communicating about archaeology. In this one-hour virtual workshop we will explore those histories through community studies; social organization; identity formation, expression, and change; marginalization; and oppression and resistance.

Submit your recent achievements, announcements or upcoming opportunities via the SBA Announcements & Opportunities Form!

SBA JOBS BOARD

Check out some of the latest submissions to the SBA Jobs Board – there are some exciting new opportunities for the SBA community!!

• Senior Level FEMA Architectural Historian | Chronicle Heritage – Chronicle Heritage is actively seeking to increase the On-Call staff for their FEMA program. Staff will provide technical expertise to assist FEMA with the identification of historic properties and the evaluation of the effects from FEMA projects on historic properties (also see their FEMA Archaeologist position).

• Research Fellowship | American School of Prehistoric Research – The American School of Prehistoric Research (ASPR), which supports research and education in Old World prehistory, has announced postdoctoral research fellowships at Harvard University for recent PhDs who are pursuing independent research on Old World prehistory.

• Forensic Anthropologist | SNA International – SNA International is  looking for a Forensic Anthropologist Postdoctoral Research Associate to assist the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) in the identification of remains, including those from large commingled assemblages, of U.S. service members lost during past conflicts and will provide professional, scientific leadership to a team engaged in forensic and biological anthropological studies and investigations.

• Cultural Resources Technician | SWCA Environmental Consultants – SWCA Environmental Consultants is seeking Cultural Resources Technicians in their Houston and Baton Rouge offices to assist with cultural resources management work.

• Federal Archaeologist | Bonneville Power Administration – The archaeologists hired would assist on Transmission projects, conducting Section 106 compliance and working with teams of engineers, project managers, environmental compliance specialists, and others at the agency.  Tribal consultation and interaction with tribal cultural resources specialists is a large part of this work.

• Behavioral Scientist | National Science Foundation – The National Science Foundation is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Program Director for the Archaeology Program in the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (BCS) within the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE).
• Post-doctoral fellow | Lund University – Lund University is recruiting a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Biology. The project aims to quantify the loss of genomic diversity through five millennia of elephant ivory trade. It includes a genomic analysis of elephant ivory confiscated in illegal imports to Europe and historical ivory from museums and archaeological collections as a source of key insights into elephant history, the present-day poaching crisis, as well as for improved elephant conservation in the future.

SBA SOCIAL MEDIA THROWBACK

SBA Fieldsite Spotlight | Africatown, Alabama 

UCLA doctoral student @maddyaubey gives us some historical and cultural context surrounding Africatown – one of the nodes in her transatlantic research project which connects the material legacies of Benin and Alabama

Donate to SBA

The Society of Black Archaeologists is a donation-powered organization  The challenges we face are not surmountable by any one person. But together, we can do the impossible. Consider supporting our work with a one-time or monthly donation!