LTS Receives 6th Digitization Grant:
Beyond Steel Oral History
Library and Technology Services has been awarded a
Library Services and Technology Act grant by the
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Libraries for the digitization,
transcription, and publication of oral history interviews
conducted in the Bethlehem area in 1975.
The interviews are the result of work by Professor of
History Roger Simon and his students several decades ago;
they represent steelworkers, shopkeepers, and homemakers --
many of whom were born before the turn of the 20th century.
When the project is complete, some one hundred digitized
oral histories will be added to those already on the “Beyond
Steel: An Archive of Lehigh Valley Industry and Culture”
website
here. The project will begin this summer, with an
anticipated web publication date of May 2011.
Digital Library Project Coordinator Julia Maserjian reports
that this is the sixth outside grant received in direct
support of library digital projects. Other grants have
partially funded Digital Bridges, The Vault at Pfaff’s, and
other aspects of Beyond Steel. Another recent grant is
funding the cataloging of hidden special collections and may
serve as a precursor to a new digital project, in
collaboration with the Moravian Archives. See LTS
Connections, Vol. 14, no. 1 (February 2010) for more
information on the Moravian history project.
--Susan A. Cady
LTS Director for Administrative and Planning Services
Article posted April,
2010
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