University Libraries has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant to document the LGBTQ+ history in North Carolina’s Triad region. The grant will enable University Libraries to collaborate with Guilford Green Foundation to organize outreach opportunities for the LGBTQ+ community where participants can submit personal items for digitization and description, creating digital content chronicling the history of the population.
PRIDE! Of the Community: Documenting LGBTQ+ History in the Triad will be the first large-scale initiative to document the LGBTQ+ history. Given the unique cultural climate of North Carolina historically and presently, it is anticipated that modern materials will reflect political themes, especially in relation to recent discord over North Carolina Amendment 1, House Bill 2, and House Bill 780. Additionally, with more than 20 institutions of higher education in the area, there will be documents and artifacts relating to LGBTQ+ student groups, including representation from three HBCUs.
Programming will include both a historical lecture and a panel discussion given by members of the LGBTQ+ community.These events will be open to the public and will provide an educational opportunity for the Greensboro community to learn about and understand another aspect of the local history.
The grant will also cover the purchase of equipment to be used in the digitization lab at UNCG, scanners and computers. Digitized content will be placed into UNCG’s open-access digital collections repository and the Digital Public Library of America.
Upon completion of the project, the equipment will be made available to community partners, such as local libraries, museums and community groups on a checkout basis for their own events.
