Two OU-Led Digital Projects Receive National Archives Funding

December 13, 2023

Two OU-Led Digital Projects Receive National Archives Funding

by Josh DeLozier

Two project teams led by University of Oklahoma faculty have received two-year planning grants from the National Archives National Historical Publications and Records Commission. These projects are designed to foster collaboration and broaden participation in the production and publication of historical and scholarly digital editions in African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Native American History and Ethnic Studies. OU is the only institution in the state to have received funding for the NHPRC awards announced in November 2023.

Shyanne Dickey, Tried and True, 2022, digital collage torn and mounted on panel with oil paint, image courtesy of the artist

Black Artists of Oklahoma

Robert Bailey, an associate professor of art history and assistant director of the School of Visual Arts in the Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts, is working with Kalenda Eaton, Pete Froslie and Olivia Murphy at OU to explore the works and lives of Black artists with ties to Oklahoma. The project team will receive $119,934 to collaborate with the Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, African American artists and additional community partners across the state on planning a digital edition.

“Black Artists of Oklahoma” will gather and digitally publish discussions of artists’ work, reproductions of artworks, bibliographical data, newspaper clippings, social media posts, oral histories, and digitized archival materials.

“Our team’s efforts will provide community members, artists, scholars, teachers and students with greater access to the history of African American and other African Diaspora art from Oklahoma,” Bailey said.

Image #357 from the Frank Phillips photograph collection, and is described as “A classroom scene at Riverside Indian School. Anadarko, O.T. 1901."

Indigenous Truthtelling of Boarding Schools

Farina King, an associate professor of Native American Studies and the Horizon Endowed Chair of Native American Ecology and Culture in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences, is working with Lina Ortega, Bonnie Pitblado, Chengbin Deng, Nina Bledsoe, and Belinda Biscoe at OU along with other universities in Oklahoma and Utah for the planning project, “Indigenous Truthtelling of Boarding Schools.”

The $120,000 funding will support the planning of a collaborative digital edition, “Indigenous Truthtelling of Boarding Schools.” The edition will connect archival collections in Oklahoma and Utah with educational resources about Native American boarding schools from various Indigenous perspectives with an emphasis on oral history, art, and archaeology. A team of Native American Studies scholars, historians, archivists, librarians, art historians, museum specialists, curriculum designers, archaeologists, geographers, and educators are working with Indigenous boarding school survivors/alumni and their descendants to build a digital edition designed for educators and students.

The NHPRC-MELLON Planning Grants for Collaborative Digital Editions in African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Native American History and Ethnic Studies are made possible with funding provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Learn more at https://www.archives.gov/nhprc/awards/awards-11-23.