Williamsburg Regional Library and Hampton University are teaming up to find the often forgotten treasures of history.
To that end, they are asking residents in Greater Williamsburg to bring documents relating to African-American history for scanning and digitization.
The library will hold two days for residents to bring their documents for digitization to the Williamsburg library on May 20 from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m., or at the James City County library June 3 from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m., according to a news release.
The project aims preserve the private history of African-Americans such as personal letters, postcards, newspaper clippings, and certificates, the release said.
Residents are encouraged to bring documents as large as a standard piece of paper or smaller, and the documents cannot be too fragile to be handled. Event staff will scan as many as 15 pages of documents per person, the release said.
Residents who participate in the project will keep all the documents they bring and will receive digital copies of the documents as well, according to the release.
Professors from Hampton University, a historically black college and university or HBCU, will run the project with help from library staff, the release said.
“As historical sources, papers are more vulnerable to being discarded than material objects and photographs, particularly at the level of family,” the release said. “As a whole, African-Americans have not preserved papers with the same urgency or nostalgia as material objects like family Bibles, photographs, or furniture. There is an intellectual and documentary history to be told here.”
According to the release, Hampton University professors will spend several months analyzing the documents and uploading them to a database for preservation. Faculty members will hold a program on Dec. 9 to share their findings with the community.
For more information about the project, call Hampton University at (757) 728-6853 or email Professor Maureen Elgersman Lee at [email protected].
For more information about the events, contact Barry Trott at (757) 259-7747 or by email at [email protected].
