University of Minnesota Libraries to Make Key Minnesota Literary Archives Accessible to World

From the University of Minnesota:

The University of Minnesota Libraries has received an $88,000 Minnesota Historical and Cultural Grant to increase access to the archives of three pivotal Minnesota poets and one premier literary press: Robert Bly, Margaret Hasse, Bill Holm, and Milkweed Editions. The materials for each are held in the Libraries’ Upper Midwest Literary Archives in Elmer L. Andersen Library.
The project, Prairie Poets and Press: Literary Lives of the Upper Midwest, will allow Libraries staff to uncover and provide access to Minnesota’s creative and prolific literary community for researchers here and around the world.
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During the project, the materials will be arranged and described in detail, with inventories for each made available online. Collections will be surveyed to assess issues of copyright that could impede researchers and future large-scale digitization initiatives. In addition to removing these barriers to access, this project will also include the development of forward-thinking strategies to promote use of these collections in scholarly research, in the classroom, and in the community.
The year-long project, led by Hujda and Curator Cecily Marcus, will begin in January 2017.

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Filed under: Archives and Special Collections, Digital Preservation, Funding, Libraries, News