On August 24, 2018, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded Project STAND (Student Activism Now Documented) $92,096 under the National Leadership Grant for Libraries Program. Established in fall 2016, Project STAND is a nationwide consortium of more than 40 colleges and universities that is creating an online hub to heighten access to digital and analog archival and historical collections documenting student activism.Project STAND is focused on enhancing access to documentation of student groups that represent the concerns of historically marginalized communities (e.g., African American, Chicano/a, LGBTQ, religious minorities, disabled etc.). The project’s website (https://standarchives.com/) provides links to partner institutions, which have contributed more than 300 collection assessments on a wide variety of issues that inspired students to protest and to demonstrate, such as anti-slavery, the Vietnam War, LGBTQ rights, anti-apartheid, civil rights, racial equality, and women’s rights. The project is also helping institutions identify gaps in their records, engage in discussion on ethical digital preservation, and best practices for outreach to student organizations and marginalized identities.The IMLS award will fund four Project STAND Symposia hosted by the AUC Woodruff Library (Atlanta, Georgia), the University of Rhode Island (Kingston, Rhode Island), Chicago State University (Chicago, Illinois), and Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona). Each forum will focus on student dissent, including looking at students serving in the role of agents of change through the lens of class, race, gender and sexuality, and examining the future of student activism and its long historical impact on marginalized student populations. Each symposium will include current and former student activists who have participated in actions to transform their campus and community. These symposia will create spaces of inclusivity and provide a platform for student activists to discuss their efforts. STAND provides an opportunity for reflection and discussion of the meaning and impact of the stories and events documented in the collections, both as a place in history and as an influence on our actions in the present.
For more information about the symposia please contact the organizers at the following email address: standarchives@gmail.com.
- Lae’l Hughes-Watkins , Kent State University Project Director
- Tamar Chute, Ohio State University, Project Director
- Ellen Swain, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Project Manager
- Sarah Tanner, AUC Woodruff Library, Host Site Co-Organizer
- Raquel Clemons Flores, Chicago State University, Host Site Co-Organizer
- Karen Morse, Rhode Island, Host Site Co-Organizer
- Shannon Walker, Arizona State University, Host Site Co-Organizer