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"UCLA Library program gives grants for worldwide digital preservation of art"
UCLA Library’s Modern Endangered Archives Program announced that they will be giving 26 new grants worth $1.47 million to expand digitization of endangered artworks.
MEAP focuses on post-custodial collecting, a process by which UCLA manages the digital materials of physical artifacts while their original owners maintain ownership, said MEAP Director Rachel Deblinger. She added that this allows the communities to continue to have access to and stewardship over their materials, but also gives UCLA the ability to provide a digitized, accessible version of the materials.
Digitization allows communities to access their materials even if they are geographically distanced – and allows scholars to continue to study and research different cultures and materials wherever they are based, Deblinger said. The digitization effort also allows communities to engage their youth in learning about past generations and understanding group identity, she said.
Digitization also provides hands-on learning opportunities for UCLA students and others across the globe, Deblinger added.
Providing digital access to these cultural heritage materials also encourages researchers to think beyond the national archives and beyond the national discourse, and really provides them with an opportunity to ask new kinds of questions about histories and experiences that maybe have already been studied, but these materials haven’t been part of that conversation.
Read the full story at the Daily Bruin
The article continues to consider the relationship between fine art and global cultural heritage.
Read the full story by Harbaksh Kaur online.(opens in a new tab)