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Miami University Libraries has just launched a digital collection of archives from Freedom Summer, also known as the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project, giving online access to researchers and students around the world at http://digital.lib.muohio.edu/fs/.
Freedom Summer was a key part of the civil rights movement in 1964 when volunteers attempted to register as many African-American voters as possible in Mississippi, where they had been almost totally excluded. Training for volunteers was held at the Western College for Women, which is now a part of Miami University.
Letters and diaries from students and civil rights leaders training at Western College were previously held in the Western College Memorial Archives. These documents were only available in paper format and not easily accessible to those outside the university. The digital materials contain thousands of items, including photographs, advertising trade-cards, newspapers, manuscripts and videos from the University Libraries collection.
“The events of Freedom Summer helped to call attention to racial inequality and serve as a catalyst for change,” said Judith Sessions, dean and university librarian. “The Freedom Summer digital collection is a part of the Miami University Libraries’ commitment to preserving and sharing rare and historical documents for this generation and for those to come.”
The project coincides with the national conference “Freedom Summer: Unity and Change, Then and Now,” which takes place Oct. 9-11 at Miami. The three-day event will host many of the local and national activists of Freedom Summer, including nationally known scholars and many other freedom fighters from the 1960s civil rights movement. For more information, go online at http://www.muohio.edu/freedomsummer2009.
The digital collection also includes a curriculum for grades 1-12, secondary schools and adults who may not be enrolled in a school. It was digitized by Western College archivist Jacky Johnson and Elias Tzoc with Miami University Libraries. The project was made possible by a $15,000 grant awarded in June by the Ohio Humanities Council.
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