Sailors, Auto Workers, and Entrepreneurs: Collecting and Preserving Arab American Stories

FAIN: ZPA-283521-22

ACCESS (Dearborn, MI 48120-1556)
Diana Abouali (Project Director: May 2021 to November 2023)

The rehiring of a Community History Specialist, who would work full-time on the Arab American National Museum’s (AANM) oral history collection project, and the partial funding of six other staff positions, including the Director, Research and Content Manager, Curatorial Specialist, Curator of Exhibits, Librarian, and Multimedia Specialist, all of whom would support the project on a part-time basis.  

Funds from the American Rescue Plan: Humanities Organizations are requested to restore AANM’s Curatorial Department to its pre-pandemic capacity in order to embark on a vital oral history collections initiative that will provide more balance, depth and nuance to the national Arab American story. The proposed project will position AANM to rehire a Community History Specialist and will support a portion of the Curatorial Specialist’s salary while we record, transcribe, and upload interviews and related donated objects and ephemera into our collections in order to keep pace with the communities we aim to represent. The results of this work will be made available on AANM’s website and publicly accessible archive, and promoted through AANM’s vast and established network of cultural institutions, Smithsonian Affiliates, academic institutions, museums, and community members across the country.