One digitization event and two public exhibits and programs focused on the history of Northwest Ohio’s Muslim community.  The proposed project represents a partnership between the Center for Archival Collections (CAC), which is a unit of the Bowling Green State University (BSGU) Libraries, and the Islamic Center for Greater Toledo (ICGT), which was founded in 1954 and represents the first community to build a mosque in Ohio and the third in the nation.  BGSU archivists and students would assist with digitization, and ICGT volunteers would assist with translating information about the historical items brought in by community members, which are likely to include personal documents and family artifacts in Arabic, Farsi, Kurdish, Urdu, Hindi, and Bengali.  With donor permission, materials would be featured in an Omeka-based digital exhibit and made available for research in the Digital Public Library of America through CAC’s participation in the Ohio Digital Network.

The Center for Archival Collections (CAC) and the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo (ICGT) will host a community scanning day and two public exhibits and programs focusing on the history of Northwest Ohio’s Muslim community, as well as the role of the ICGT within that history. Members of the ICGT and general public will be invited to bring any historical materials related to the project theme for reformatting and preservation by the CAC. The scanning day will present a significant opportunity for initiating the preservation of the region’s Islamic heritage, which has been anchored by the ICGT and the religious, educational and cultural programs offered to both its members as well as the greater Toledo community. Subsequent public programs and exhibits will allow the community at large - Muslim and non-Muslim - to learn about and engage with Islamic traditions and culture, and to better appreciate the significant role that Muslims and the ICGT have played in the history of the region.