COmmunity Centered Collections
Centering Community Voices in Local History Work
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The Community Centered Collections project is a participatory approach to local history work that explores the possibilities of the role of traditional museums and archives in the memory-making process of communities. The project brings together professional archivists and community members to co-develop community-centered methods to interpret, preserve, and share historical records and local histories.
History Colorado will collaborate with three Hispano, Latino, and Chicano communities in Southern Colorado-- Antonito, San Luis, and Avondale--to create community collections that reflect the perspective, motivations, and knowledge of each community. Together we will reflect on what it takes to do this kind of collaborative work and co-develop a model to guide other archives and communities seeking to do the same.
The project is a joint effort between History Colorado's Museum of Memory and the Curatorial Services & Collections Access Division, with support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
PROJECT GOALS:
To support and address the needs of three communities in Southern Colorado to explore and interpret their local history on their own terms.
To prioritize the interest of communities in interpreting, preserving, and making accessible their local histories on their own terms through the collaborative creation of community collections.
To co-create with three communities in Southern Colorado a replicable model for developing community-centered collections in museums, libraries, and archives.
To learn from communities about how they tell, validate, preserve, and share their collective pasts.
To address preservation and access barriers in museums and archives by centering community voices in existing and new collections through authorship and fellowship training in local history work.
WHAT ARE WE DOING?
WHY DOES THIS WORK MATTER?
REPRESENTATION
Representation in archives and libraries is an ever-present challenge. Working collaboratively with communities to create a fully representative record of their experiences and history is necessary to accurately reflect the people of Colorado and our communities. Museums, libraries, and archives need to create pathways to include different perspectives and the community voices.
ADDRESSING MISSING OR INACCURATE NARRATIVES
Stories from BIPOC communities are often missing or incorrect in traditional archives and libraries. Collections may have inaccurate or offensive information about local histories, due to past archival decisions about which stories are deemed relevant and which are overlooked. Collaborating with communities to reanimate the stories that have long existed only in the margins makes collections more comprehensive, inclusive, and accessible for the community, faciltating its activation in the present and future use.
COMMUNITY AUTHORSHIP & OWNERSHIP
It is important for communities to represent their experiences and collective pasts in the archives on their own terms, rather than having those experiences filtered through the existing framework in archives and museums. Advocating for and acknowledgement of community-based knowledge and expertise is essential to the creation of a more inclusive and polyvocal Colorado story.
BUILDING COMMUNITY CAPACITY FOR LOCAL HISTORY WORK
More efforts are emerging from within communities to collect, preserve, and make accessible their own histories. Locating opportunities to support communities to strengthen their internal capacity to do local history work with training and collaboration is critical to the long-term sustainability of these efforts.
History Colorado is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
This work is rooted in History Colorado’s Anti-racism Grounding Virtues.
Questions?
To get more information on the project, contact María Islas-López, Project Director: maria.islaslopez@state.co.us
Supported by funding from IMLS, award # PB-274243-20.