The Georgetown Slavery Archive. http

Since the 2004 efforts of Brown University and the University of Alabama, a number of universities and colleges, including Universities Studying Slavery (USS) consortium members, have systematically engaged with researching and reconciling their institutional ties to slavery and its legacies. A growing number of these institutions have also developed digital repositories of their efforts. These digital humanities projects have proved instrumental for providing the necessary tools for engagement, demonstrating the transparency of the reconciliation work, connecting enslaved laborers’ descendants with the current campus communities, and encouraging difficult conversations reflective of the racially inclusive and diverse campuses. Of the existing digital humanities campus history projects, the Georgetown Slavery Archive is an exemplar for its democratization of the archives and for involving African American descendants in the campus reconciliation efforts. Created in 2016, this digital humanities project offers a model for institutions embarking on similar projects. At the core of this Omeka-supported digital humanities campus history project are the documents surrounding the 1838 sale of 272 enslaved men, women, and children (the so-called GU272, an identification number Georgetown uses to refer to this specific sale) by the president of Georgetown, the nature of slavery practiced on plantations owned by the Maryland Jesuits and at Georgetown University before and after the 1838 sale, and the post-sale fates of enslaved individuals in Louisiana and their descendants. These documents are centrally placed under the “Items” tab. As a repository of materials, the Georgetown Slavery Archive encourages individuals to explore these items before the other tabs. At present, the over 380 documents featured have clear titles and general descriptions contextualizing the items; the records list the creators of the documents and identify other source publication details. Some digital files are provided without correction, but there are also searchable transcriptions provided for handwritten sources. Documents are arranged both by identifier number and alternatively on an inventory timeline based on the creation date. The latter allows for individuals to easily locate documents produced during specific time periods. The home page also draws attention to all recent additions to this section.

Democracy · Democratization · Library science · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Transparency (behavior) · Computer Science · Cuban History and Society · History · Law