TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — The John G. Riley Museum is now going to be able to preserve Tallahassee's African American history in a digital format.
The City of Tallahassee’s John G. Riley Center and Museum of African American History and Culturewas recently awarded a three-year Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Museum Grant for African American History and Culture.
The $246,250 grant will be used to digitally archive a vast collection of historical information.
It's a three-year project in partnership with Florida State University Libraries and the Riley Museum Archives at Tallahassee Community College.
The focus is providing nationwide access to photos, documents, books and artifacts documenting the history of Black Floridians, with a focus on Leon and Gadsden counties.
Katie McCormick, Associate Dean of Libraries for Special Collections and Archives at Florida State University, said the researchers are hoping to create a model for other places to follow.
"And we can help provide the resources necessary through training and having this platform supported and really showing the way and how to do this kind of digitization process and to connect to a much larger audience," McCormick said.
Right now, the archives are kept on Tallahassee Community College for educational research and open to the public.
