Contribution short abstract:

This presentation explores how a grant program offered by a U.S. federal cultural institution enables self-representation by communities through cultural documentation projects. A key question here is how does the program unwrite normalized collection practices and democratize the national record?

Contribution long abstract:

In 2022, the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress launched a grant program to fund individuals and organizations conducting cultural documentation projects in their own communities. In addition to financial support the program provided technical assistance, project guidance, and—most importantly—a sustained relationship with staff at a major cultural institution. Part of a much initiative at the Library intended to engage users and communities who have not historically seen themselves in the institution, the Community Collections Grant set out to support archival preservation of "contemporary cultural expressions and traditions that may otherwise be absent from the national record." Toward this end the Library of Congress and the American Folklife Center sought to enable self-representation and democratization of the national record. The significant ethnographic collections held at the American Folklife Center comprise cultural documentation of a wide range of diverse communities, but few collections emerge from the community perspective. Instead, these collections have mostly been written into the archival record by ethnographers coming from outside the communities. This presentation will consider how the grant may have contributed to rewiring collection building at a national cultural institution by centering community perspectives. In what ways does enabling self-representation serve to unwrite or unravel entrenched dominant epistemologies that have historically underwritten archival records? Through description of elements of the program and specific examples of funded projects the presentation will invite critical reflection on challenges and opportunities of such an undertaking.