The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced February 20 that it has provided several Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) with $1,725,261 in funding. The money was distributed among eight HBCUs and the HBCU Library Alliance toward projects that preserve U.S. history and develop the future workforce.

The institutions receiving grants from IMLS are Alabama State University, Montgomery; Bishop State Community College, Mobile, AL; Clark Atlanta University; Florida A&M University, Tallahassee; the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University, MS; Lincoln University, Lower Oxford Township, PA; North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Greensboro; and Southern University at Shreveport, LA.

“HBCUs represent and constitute a brain trust when it comes to innovation, when it comes to a pipeline of professionals who have gone into communities across the country and supported them and changed them,” HBCU Alliance Executive Director Tracie D. Hall told LJ. “It feels appropriate and it feels timely, and I think it also recognizes the degree to which many of the HBCUs remain underfunded.”

While the funding was announced recently, the awards were part of IMLS’s FY25 slate of discretionary grants, and recipients have been implementing their projects since last year. But the announcement is welcome in the current moment, noted Hall. “There’s something about making this public at a time when many universities, in particular, and state and other federal or national-level organizations, are feeling a pressure to talk about support for activities that lift up or speak about the importance of supporting the professionals of color or projects that celebrate our histories.”

PRESERVING THE RECORD

Initiatives include a range of infrastructure, staff, policy, and best practices support.

The HBCU Library Alliance, in collaboration with the American Institute of Physics, will address the under-documentation of contributions from HBCUs in the physical sciences. The two-year project will center a three-day workshop this fall on oral history, digital collecting, and digital preservation for 10 early- and mid-career librarians at HBCUs and will then serve as the foundation for professional development and support over the project period.

After sustaining severe damage storm damage in 2023, the Margaret Walker Center (MWC) at Jackson State University will relocate its archives to secure temporary storage during the building’s renovation and HVAC replacement. MWC will then work with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture’s HBCU History and Culture Access Consortium (HCAC), a digital humanities initiative, to digitize nearly 1,000 oral histories and transfer 35,000 items from a proprietary digital platform to the open-source program used by the HCAC to ensure long-term preservation and access to the collections.

Bishop State Community College will process three collections of local 19th- and 20th-century African American materials comprising documents, cultural items, and oral history recordings. Project activities will include establishing a dedicated archival processing space, conducting a full inventory of the collections, developing cataloging protocols, and training staff and interns.

The Alabama State University Archives Department will increase its capacity to plan for and respond to disasters impacting its collections. The project—designed in response to the recommendations of a Preservation Needs Report from the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts—will include developing a disaster response plan, purchasing disaster response supplies, providing disaster recovery training for 25 staff members, supporting the professional appraisal of select collection items for appropriate insurance coverage, and creating documentary photographs of 70 pieces of art.

The Southern University Museum of Art will improve the care and preservation of art, artifacts, and other significant works in its collection at a site of historical importance on the campus. Two portable air conditioning units and four hygrometers will be installed to maintain optimal temperature, monitor humidity levels, and upgrade the existing cold storage refrigeration unit. Additionally, the project will result in upgraded displays using digital signage and monitors, collection management support, policies and procedures for the care of the collection, documentation of environmental conditions, appropriate facility adaptations, and the establishment of a routine maintenance plan for the museum.

In other projects, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University will host a national forum and launch the Artificial Intelligence Catalyst Institute to support the professional development of library professionals and library students in the field of Artificial Intelligence; The Meek-Eaton Black Archives Research Center and Museum at Florida A&M University will optimize collection management, expand digital access, and continue the professional development of its team; the Clark Atlanta University Art Museum will establish a Museum Educator position and enhance public programs; and the Lincoln University Art Department and Langston Hughes Memorial Library are collaborating to establish an internship program for future museum professionals.

ADVANCING AN EXECUTIVE ORDER

“IMLS awards to HBCUs in FY 2025 are furthering the President’s commitments, preserving American historical and cultural treasures, increasing institutional resilience and emergency preparedness, and enhancing research activities,” said Deputy Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling in a statement. “Each of the projects IMLS funded furthers the work of HBCU-affiliated museums and libraries while creating hands-on learning opportunities for students and emerging library and museum professionals.”

According to IMLS, these grants advance the work of President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) 14283 of April 2025, the White House Initiative to Promote Excellence and Innovation at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. In addition to promoting capacity-building goals for HBCUs—including both infrastructure growth and external partnerships—the executive order authorizes the implementation of the HBCU Propelling Agency Relationships Towards a New Era of Results for Students (HBCU PARTNERS) Act to foster public-private partnerships, increase matching state funding, and strengthen efforts to promote student success and retention.

This executive order was one of a series covering higher education, replacing President Joe Biden’s White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity Through Historically Black Colleges and Universities, issued in September 2021. In a statement at the time the Trump administration’s executive order was issued, the NAACP labeled it “an empty gesture in the guise of a well-meaning policy initiative,” citing its systematic dismantling of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the country.

But regardless of the executive order’s efficacy, this funding supports important and necessary work. And, as Hall pointed out, “these grants really prove how much we need IMLS. We need IMLS for the funding it provides, but also for the fact that it is an insurance and assurance that that federal investments continue to be made in critical areas of library and information services.”