Breaking (Sound) Barriers: Enhancing Description and Access to Deaf Heritage Collections

FAIN: PW-304279-25

Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY 14623-5603)
Elizabeth Call (Project Director: July 2024 to January 2026)
Ella Von Holtum (Project Director: January 2026 to present)
Joan Naturale (Co Project Director: March 2025 to present)

The arrangement and description of 180 linear feet of archival materials that document the lives and work of Deaf academics, activists, and artists, as well as the digitization of 300 items and the enhancement of metadata for previously described collections.

The RIT Archives requests a two-year Implementation Grant to arrange, describe, and digitize key collections in the Deaf Studies, Culture, and History Archives (DSA). This project addresses a backlog of significant Deaf history and culture materials accessioned over the past five years. We will hire a Project Archivist to survey unprocessed collections, arrange and describe the materials in accordance with professional standards, and create associated records in ArchivesSpace to ensure the materials are discoverable. Additionally, we will enhance descriptions of previously processed collections, including reparative description when necessary. We will also initiate a pilot digitization project to digitize materials from three important DSA collections and make them publicly accessible via the RIT Libraries’ Digital Collections platform.