Bluford Library Receives National Grant to Digitize Film Collection

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (June 8, 2022) – F.D. Bluford Library at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has received a $47,570 grant from Council on Library and Information Resources' (CLIR) Recordings at Risk program to digitize films that are pertinent to the university’s history.

Bluford’s project will digitize 163 at-risk films from 1937-1979 that document the history of North Carolina A&T and African Americans nationwide before, during and after the mid-20th century civil rights era.

The collections to be digitized includes documentaries about alumnus the Rev. Jesse Jackson, home movies depicting African American life in post-World War II America and films about A&T during that time period.

F.D. Bluford Library has partnered with AV Greeks to digitize the materials. These films will be available via Digital Commons so that students, scholars and the wider community can view them. For many of these films, this will be the first time they have been viewable in decades.

CLIR awarded a total of $570,595 to fund 20 projects, including projects led by National Geographic, Catawba Nation and New York University.