Funded Projects

Memoria Abierta, a collective group of Argentinean human rights organizations (HROs), represents the struggle against historically repressive regimes during the late 20th century. During the last five decades, these organizations authored publications detailing their histories, promoting organizational events, and sharing social commentary. This collection of organizational materials reveals the work of human rights activism and traces the history of these organizations in Argentina.

Musical and oral traditions of the desert populations in western Rajasthan are sacred to the local community. This collection of audio recordings preserves the traditions of Rajasthan heritage and ensures that the traditional practices do not disappear.

Vaihoho is a sacred form of storytelling for the Fataluku people of Timor-Leste. The archive of Justin Valentim documented the tradition through field work.

This collection of ephemera covers cultural, political, socioeconomic, and religious life in Barbados during the formative decades after the country's transition from a colonial territory to an independent state in 1966. Ephemera from the Barbados Department of Archives reveals the evolution of Barbadian national consciousness and culture during this period of intense transformation.

This collection of ledgers and business records from the Ibicaba Farm documents the economic system of agricultural labor in Brazil that ultimately consolidated mass immigration. Starting in the 1840s, plantations in southwestern Brazil experiment with European immigrant labor co-existing with the enslaved black population. The Ibicaba Farm was a pioneer in such process and this collection tracks the development of this system.

Starting in the 1970s, Ricardo Montejano has collected original field and studio recordings of the voices of various populations in Mexico. His work, made accessible in this collection, illuminates a history of social movements and indigenous knowledge throughout the country. These audio recordings document political and cultural realities of Mexican people.

The Albanian National Film Archive (AQSHF) has digitized a curated selection of materials from the photographic and graphic art collections, allowing viewers to trace the journey of Albanian visual artists.

Buddhist works, including written and printed materials from the 20th century, document the social structures and religious dynamics of principalities in Eastern Myanmar (Burma).

The Alonso collection captures a rich visualization of Uruguay's historic countryside through a series of documentary-styled shots. Cine Casero's work will preserve the beauty of a countryside lost to industrialization and a local culture altered by modernization.

As traditional cinema in India transitioned to an era of digital film, physical reels grew out of fashion and were often abandoned and left to deteriorate. This collection of film reels preserves diverse regional images on film from across post-independence India.

The collection of Bishop Nirmal Minz in Jharkhand, India illuminates the struggle for justice, dignity, and human rights through the voices of marginalized writers.

Since 1947 the Confederación Campesina del Perú (CCP) has been active in defense of peasants and indigenous people. Their archive documents the organized efforts of rural and indigenous people in Peru during the 20th century, including the 1969 agrarian reform and the conflict with the Shining Path (1980-1992).

Court records from Óbidos, Brazil (in the Lower Amazon region) document the daily life of Amazonian people through several authoritarian regimes. This collection covers 1900 - 1988, a period of great political and cultural change. The records reveal tensions during a time of restricted individual rights as well as Brazil’s engagement in international issues and projects aiming at “modernizing” Amazonia.

The archive of photographer, Mohlouoa T. Ramakatane, documents Lesotho’s social history and visual culture from his 50+ year career.

The images in the Photo Jack Collection, held by the Arab Image Foundation, show the diversity of northern Lebanon.

Throughout the 1940’s to 2015, the Archive of the Diocesan Curia of Nova Iguaçu (ACDNI) has accumulated a rich collection of the documents that record the activism of the Brazilian progressive Catholic Church, including their support towards the working class, known as the Baixada Fluminense.

Rescuing Zik's Library: Preserving the Nnamdi Azikiwe Papers

The news program “El Mundo al Día” was aired on the first television station in the Dominican Republic from 1954-1996. During those years, "El Mundo al Día" broadcast daily to the nation, capturing and documenting significant events in the Dominican Republic throughout the 20th Century. Today, these broadcasts are preserved on disintegrating film and require intervention.

A project to digitize and preserve collections from the Museum of Memory and Human Rights, Chile.

Amongst the recent and historical socio-political turmoil in Mali, women have worked to create a more just and equitable society. The personal collections of movement leaders document the work of women across Mali from the 1950’s onward.

The McMillan Memorial Library’s archive holds more than 45,000 print newspaper issues across the three library branches. The rich newspaper collection includes reports of key historical events during Kenya’s struggle for independence such as the Mau Mau uprising, political assassinations, social and cultural developments, human rights movements and exploitative land acquisition laws.

A digitization project to preserve audio, video, and printed materials from the archive of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ibadan (Nigeria).

This project will survey the archives held at regional offices of The Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo to preserve the history of activism outside the urban center of Argentina.

The project seeks to create an archive of the women's movement in the Republic of Sudan by documenting the history of feminine and feminist movements that developed from the 1940s in the capital and three major urban centers (El Obeid, Wad Medani, Atbara).

Preserving the everyday organization and internal communication of Peruvian self-defense militias (1980-2000)

From 1977 to the present, the Tallersol Cultural Centre’s graphic arts workshop created a rich collection of posters and printed works in support of the resistance movement in Chile against the local dictatorship.

A survey of visual art archives in contemporary Malaysia to document countercultural practices: photo media artist Yee I-Lann, performance artist, educator Ray Lagenbach and writer-photographer Bernice Chauly

A survey of Ahmed Hossain's photographic collection that depicts the socio-cultural life of Northeast India's tribal communities (1960s - 2000s)

Exploring the role of social media platforms, like Facebook, to preserve the cultural heritage and memory of Aleppo and Syrians displaced by violence and war.

In resistance to the centralizing government state, those of the Pakistan progressive movement left behind a rich archive of photographs, written works, recorded interviews, and documentaries. The materials at the South Asia Resource and Research Center (SARRC) in Islamabad capture the movement’s often censored history.

Throughout the 1990’s to the early 2000’s, the indigenous Mapuche-Pehuenche community of Chile organized against plans to build hydroelectric dams in the historical BioBio River. Photographs, audio recordings, and organization documents capture the local efforts against the construction to preserve a treasured landmark.

The Upcountry (Hill Country) Tamils, are the descendants of nineteenth-century Indian laborers brought to Sri Lanka to work on the country's British-owned tea, coffee, and rubber plantations.

Preserving the Biblioteca Amazónica (Peru), including publications on Amazonian culture and history, photographic and cartographic documentation, and magazines and newspapers.

Archivo Sociedad en Movimientos will digitize print, photo, audio and visual materials documenting the history of the Afro-Uruguayan population.

Preserving the voices of indigenous communities from Siberia (1920s-1980s).

A survey of archives from Sufi monasteries and shrines within the Pashtun tribal regions on the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier.

Preserving the broadcast history of Radio Rurale de Kayes (Mali) that includes popular songs, oral traditions and record broadcasts in vernacular languages.

Preserving the history of Brazil's Landless Rural Workers Movement through MST's collection of documents, photographs, publications, recordings and institutional records.

Preserving the history of LGBTQIA+ communities in Poland and the under-documented history of Polish queer activism from the late 1980s.

Preserving the history of Anarchism in Mexico by digitizing the collections of renowned Mexican anarchists: the Flores Magón brothers.

A project to preserve Afro-Brazilian memory through archives containing documents of Afro-Brazilian activism (1964 - 1990s)

The JADEAS Trust archive holds materials from J.F. Ade-Ajayi, a ground-breaking Nigerian historian who rehabilitated African historiography during the decolonization period.

Documenting the Aymara language through the archive of the Instituto de Lengua y Cultura Aymara: pamphlets, newspapers, fieldwork recordings, notes and transcriptions.

A project to survey and inventory the archive of Mahmoud Ahmed Abdulkadir, locally known as Ustadh Mau, is an eminent poet and imam from Lamu island, Kenya.

The Humun Bichig Newspaper is the only newspaper still published in the traditional Mongolian script, which was purged in 1941 as part of a Sovietization effort.

A project to organize and assess records from Brazil’s national domestic workers’ union federation that document labor organizing and the history of the Federation.

The Lubumbashi Art Collection Archive holds artistic works and related documentation from the late colonial and the postcolonial era in Congo (1950s - present).

A survey of the Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken’s clippings collection and documents related to the Ente de Calificación Cinematográfica (Film Censorship Committee).

Exploring the visual archive of Bautista Amé (1889– 1973)

Examining the photographic history of the Kashmir Valley.

Preserving footage of demonstrations, meetings, and experiences of political activism during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1980s)

Preserving the history of activism related to the human-rights movements, especially Afro, Feminist and Indigenous Movements in Brazil.

A survey of organizational Archives in Colombia to preserve history of human rights activism and document crimes against humanity.

A survey of oral histories recorded with Palestinian refugees between 2009 and 2015

Preserving folklore from Tajik SSR and contiguous Persian-speaking regions (1920 - 1990)

Archaeologist Dr. Louis Dupree and his wife, Nancy Hatch Dupree, photographed Afghanistan from the 1950s to the 2000s as part of their ongoing research across the country. The ACKU's project to digitize this collection invites users to study the nature, architecture, culture, and history of Afghanistan.

In response to Lebanon's various crises, the Arab Image Foundation (AIF) is digitizing negatives from its collections. The materials represent a range of photography methods practiced in Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria in various settings. From commercial studios to personal outings, these images reveal not only diverse photographic practices, but also underrepresented cultural histories.

Frevo music and dance has been a significant piece of Brazilian cultural heritage for decades. Throughout the twentieth century, thousands of original written manuscripts were authored by one of frevo's most notable contributors - Captain Zuzinha and his band. This collection documents of the birth of frevo as a vibrant cultural expression.

Digitizing architectural drawings, photographs and other materials from the Institut de Sauvegarde du Patrimoine National (ISPAN), Haiti. The project is led in partnership with FIU Libraries.

Digitizing and preserving a set of black & white photographs that document heritage sites and buildings in across India from 1966 to 1990.

Preserving the photographic and filmic work of Alejandro Del Conte (Argentina, 1897-1952), a pioneer of cinema and an advocate of photographic art.

BAHA is an extraordinary repository of African visual heritage, memory and social history for the country and continent. The archive includes photographs from Drum Magazine and other publications.

The Kwame Ture Archive includes documentary material related to Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael), a central figure of the Civil Rights, Black Power, Pan-African, and Third World liberation movements

The Archivo Histórico de Tijuana documents Tijuana’s history, including images of people, buildings, political activism and public events as well as the City’s administrative office.

The Library of the Spoken Word collection, at the University of the West Indies, preserve radio broadcasts about social, political, cultural, historical and academic topics in Jamaica (1950s - 2013)

This project will continue the work of preserving records related to the movement against the construction of hydroelectric dams in Chile’s Biobío river by digitizing audio, photographic and original print materials organized by an earlier MEAP planning grant.

This project will digitize Chinese religious materials printed in Malay and Indonesian, dating from the early 1900s to 1998.

The sound archives of Rádio Libertação includes more than 500 open reel and cassette tapes of broadcasts that document and preserve the role of radio during the liberation war in Guinea-Bissau.

This project will digitize books and periodicals that document cultural and religious writing associated with Bengali Muslim intellectuals from the the historical Bengal region.

The Willis Bell Archive contains photographic negatives and prints by American photographer Willis E. Bell, who documented life in Ghana, West Africa, during the post-colonial period (1957-1978)

This project will create capacity for film preservation in Uruguay and digitize Super 8 films that document life during the Uruguayan dictatorship (1973-1985).

This project will digitize the REMHI collection, which documents the human rights violations resulting from armed conflict in Guatemala from 1973 into the 1990s.

Documents held by the Cham Cultural Research Center in Ninh Thuan, Vietnam reflect the history, literature, art, customs, rituals and folk knowledge of the Cham.

Mohi Eldin Ellabbad, a prolific Egyptian artist, writer and bookmaker, helped shape the region’s artistic currents. His archive speaks to the region's social, political and cultural history.

The Building Department archives of the city of Casablanca hold thousands of architectural drawings, plans and correspondence related to projects designed between 1917 and 1980.

Mr. R.N. Nagaraja Rao (1950-1985), a still-photographer of the film industry in South India, documented Tamil cinema and photographed hundreds of films during his career.

This collection contains audio recordings on Igbo life, mythology, marriage & burial ceremonies, religion, philosophy, social life, literary & productive arts, history, science, medicine and more.

The archive of graphic designer Félix Beltrán documents communications, propaganda and graphic design for the Cuban revolutionary party, including materials from the early 1960s - the early 90s.

The archive of Maulana Bhashani (1880-1976) documents 20th century social justice struggles from South Asia and opposition to authoritarianism across the region.

Magazines and booklets published since the 1960s trace the history, community life and traditional knowledge of fishing communities in Tamil Nadu.

The Union of African Teachers of Burkina Faso (SNEAB) has been part of the country’s social and political transformations from the anti-colonial struggles of the 1950s, the 1966 insurrection and the 2014 revolution

The Archive of Pio Coc, a leader in the indigenous movement in the period 1985-2005s, reflects the work of the Maya movement of Belize to fight for indigenous land rights to their ancestral lands.

The Museo Marino, located in Boca de Rio, is the foremost cultural institution on the Isle de Margarita, holding documentary collections and audio-visual materials from the region.

The South African Broadcast Corporation (SABC) holds recorded testimonies given at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) at the time of South Africa’s transition from apartheid in the 1990s.

The Niterói Herbarium (NIT), established in 1977, is a botanical collection that offers a glimpse into Brazil’s socio-environmental history.

The Fundação Amílcar Cabral (FAC) holds the papers of Amilcar Cabral and Aristides Pereira, the first two secretary-generals of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cabo Verde (PAIGC).

The Chiapas Media Project (CMP)/Promedios archive holds video and other visual materials related to Zapatista communities and Indigenous peoples’ struggle from 1998-2009.