Welcome to the HCAC Digital Archive
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This digital archive is one of the outcomes of the History and Culture Access Consortium (HCAC) Project, which aims to strengthen Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) museums and archives. This archive is the result of a carefully crafted five-year partnership that began in 2021, led by the Office of Strategic Partnerships at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, in collaboration with the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media and five HBCUs: Clark Atlanta University, Florida A&M University, Jackson State University, Texas Southern University, and Tuskegee University.
This open-source archive currently features over 2,000 resources selected and digitized by the HBCU partners. Each HBCU partner created metadata for the items and developed interpretive materials. They curated individual digital collections and co-created collaborative collections that highlight connections across institutions.
The archive will continue to grow as more institutions join the project and as such will continuously undergo a revision and review process. The archive, hosted on Omeka S, is intended for use by scholars and the general public.
Some materials in the HCAC Digital Archive may include language or imagery that users find distressing or offensive. This page explains how and why we use content warnings, and how we work to provide access to historical materials with context and care.
Explore the expandable sections below to learn more about our goals and values, how the archive was built, what you'll find here, and how to navigate the collections.
HCAC Digital Archive Goals and Values
The HCAC Digital Archive aims to make accessible the diverse and rich histories preserved by Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) archives and museums. Grounded in public history practice, the archive foregrounds collaboration, accountability, and care in how materials are described, interpreted, and shared.
Authentic Collaboration
The History and Culture Access Consortium (HCAC) project is grounded in authentic collaboration led by The Office of Strategic Partnerships at The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) and developed at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (RRCHNM) at George Mason University. Our five core institutional HBCU partners and additional organizational partners contribute to forming a growing community of practice based on objectives of co-curation, knowledge-sharing, and collaborative decision-making practices. Everything featured on this site was co-created with the HBCU Partners.
To learn more about these processes, see our white paper here. (Coming Soon)
Reflexive and Accountable Stewardship
This project recognizes that archivists, historians, museum and public history professionals, curators, and educators play an active role in shaping how histories are described, interpreted, and made accessible. Decisions about what to include, how to describe materials, and what language to use are never neutral—they reflect values, perspectives, and lived experiences.
Rather than claiming complete objectivity or allowing any single viewpoint to dominate, we work thoughtfully and transparently, acknowledging our perspectives while remaining open to critique, revision, and collaboration. Through ongoing dialogue with our HBCU partners and communities connected to these materials, we actively examine our assumptions, challenge harmful or exclusionary language, and center community knowledge when possible in how histories are presented.
Our approach is guided by radical empathy and accountability: to the people who created the materials, those represented within them, the institutions and individuals who have cared for them over time, and the many audiences whose relationships to these histories may change. We also recognize that archival narratives can shape understanding far beyond the archive itself, affecting communities who may never visit this site but are still impacted by how these histories are told.
This work draws on principles articulated by Michelle Caswell and Marika Cifor in “From Human Rights to Feminist Ethics: Radical Empathy in the Archives,” Archivaria 81 (Spring 2016): 23–43. (Link to reading list – Coming Soon)
Community-Informed, Conscientious, and Inclusive Language
The HCAC Digital Archives endeavors to use language that is:
Community-Informed - centering the knowledge of both our HBCU partner institutions and the Black communities whose histories are preserved.
Conscientious - respectfully, thoughtfully, and intentionally chosen
Inclusive - welcoming and accessible to all users The HCAC public history focused digital archive cataloging and curation is an ongoing process, and we may update this record as we conduct additional research and review.
We welcome your comments and feedback if you have more information to share about an item featured on the site, please contact us at: HCAC-DigiTeam@si.edu. For a full statement, see our content warning and sensitive materials policy page.
Scope of the Archive
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The Platform
The HCAC Digital Archive is hosted across two connected platforms. Public-facing project pages are built on WordPress, while the digital archive and related interpretive content are hosted on
Omeka S, an open-source platform designed for digital collections and exhibitions.
These two platforms work together to support both storytelling and archival access. While we have made every effort to integrate them seamlessly, you may notice small differences in layout or functionality as you move between pages.
You can tell which platform you are viewing by the navigation bars at the top of the page:
Purple navigation bar – WordPress pages, including HCAC project information and general site content Golden yellow navigation bar – Omeka S pages, including the digital archive and interpretive materials
To explore the digital archive, use the golden yellow navigation bar. To return to HCAC project pages, use the purple navigation bar or the links in the website footer. Many pages also include direct links to help you move easily between WordPress and Omeka S. If you encounter navigation issues or have questions about using the site, please contact us at HCAC-DigiTeam@si.edu.
- To navigate to the Omeka S archive pages, use the golden yellow navigation bar in the header.
- To navigate to the WordPress HCAC project pages, use the links in the purple navigation bar in the header or the links in the footer.
Building the HCAC Digital Archive
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Exploring the HCAC Digital Archives
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File Formats
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Interpretation
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FAQs
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Contributors
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the NMAAHC Office of Strategic Partnerships to create lasting benefits to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) museums and archives.
The HCAC initiative is committed to amplifying the legacy of HBCUs by enhancing resource availability and making known the under-told history of African Americans and their essential role in the story of America.