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Archives in the South



Dear Friends,

        As part of Tulane University's efforts to build an NEH-sponsored
Deep South Regional Humanities Center, we are conducting a survey of
archives and collections with holdings relevant to the Deep South.  The
goal of the survey is to create an inventory of regional archives and
collections that we can make available on the Web in the form of a
searchable database serving researchers and others wishing to identify
resources about the history and culture of the region.  As defined by the
NEH, the Deep South region includes the states of Alabama, Arkansas,
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.  We hope to make this resource as
comprehensive as possible, and we are therefore especially anxious to
include less-visible archives and collections held by individuals and
smaller institutions.
        We want to be sure that your holdings or those of your
institution are included and accurately represented in our database.  We
would therefore appreciate your taking a few moments to complete our
on-line survey at http://rhcdb.tulane.edu. The main section of the survey
includes just three screens of information and should only take 10-15
minutes to complete. After the main section, you will have the
opportunity to include additional details about your holdings, if you
wish.
        Once you have completed the survey, please pass this message on
to other individuals or institutions that have archives or collections of
significance to the region, or send their names and contact information
to Tom Klingler, Department of French and Italian, Tulane University, New
Orleans, LA 70118; e-mail: klingler@tulane.edu. (E-mail is the preferred
form of correspondence.)  For those who do not have Internet access or
who prefer to use paper, we will be happy to send a hard copy of the
survey.
        At the end of this message you will find additional information
about the NEH Regional Humanities Center initiative and about Tulane's
survey project.
        Thank you for helping to make this project a reality.  We look
forward to receiving your survey.

Sincerely,

Susan Tucker
Curator of Books and Records
Newcomb College Center for Research on Women
Tulane University
New Orleans, La. 70118
susannah@tulane.edu

telephone: 504 865 5762
fax: 504 862 8948
---------
THE REGIONAL HUMANITIES CENTER INITIATIVE
        In 1999, NEH Director William Ferris announced an initiative to
establish ten Regional Humanities Centers around the country to serve as
significant cultural and educational hubs -devoted to exploring America's
regional experience and how a sense of place infuses and enriches
American history, culture, and traditions.

It is expected that each
center will foster regional studies by promoting research, education and
educational outreach, documentation and preservation, and cultural
heritage tourism.  A call for proposals for planning grants was issued in
May 1999, and awards were eventually made to two institutions or
institutional consortia in each of the ten regions defined by the NEH. 
In the Deep South region, which comprises the states of Alabama,
Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, the two planning grants
were awarded to Tulane University and the University of Mississippi. 

Proposals for implementation grants are due August 1, 2001, and the
recipient institutions--those where the Regional Humanities Centers will
be housed--will be announced in December 2001. For further information on
the NEH's Regional Humanities Centers initiative, visit
http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/regional.html or
http://206.161.132.1/news/archive/20000724.html.  For further information
about Tulane University’s planning activities, please visit our web site
at www.tulane.edu/~rhc.

THE ARCHIVES DATABASE PROJECT
        As part of the planning process for the Regional Humanities
Centers, each recipient of an NEH planning grant is required to survey
its region's resources and needs in the areas of documentation and
preservation.  The members of Tulane University's Planning Group decided
that we would design our survey both to serve our planning needs and to
create a valuable informational resource benefitting the entire region. 
Hence the idea of an on-line survey and a web-searchable database of
regional collections and archives.
        We have taken as our model for this project the Getty
Institute's Cultural Inheritance: A Directory of Less-Visible Archives and
Collections in the Los Angeles Region and the companion database, L.A. as
Subject.  Based on data gathered from a survey questionnaire distributed
throughout the Los Angeles region, the Getty published a comprehensive
guide to these resources, which it also made available in searchable form
on the Web (http://www.getty.edu/gri/public/db.htm). We have adapted the
Getty's survey questionnaire and Web database for the purposes of our
project to create an inventory of collections and archives in and about
the Deep South region. Like the Getty, we are especially interested in
identifying and inventorying less visible archives and collections, such
as those held by individuals and smaller organizations; however, our goal
is to compile a comprehensive inventory that also includes better-known
archives and collections held by more prominent institutions.

--------------

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