Penn State University Libraries has been selected for one of just 17 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grants nationwide to make available online several of its special collections that document the historical connections among three important American labor organizations.

The grant, administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) and supported by the Mellon Foundation’s Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives awards program, totals $239,185 to fund the two-year digitization project. Penn State’s project, “Beneath the Surface and Cast in Steel: Forging the American Industrial Union Movement Digital Project,” was selected from among 144 proposals submitted in 2016. The University Libraries’ co-principal investigators include Karen Estlund, associate dean for technology and digital strategies; Sue Kellerman, the Judith O. Sieg Chair for Preservation; and James Quigel, head of Historical Collections and Labor Archives.

The 17 grants selected by CLIR in 2016 comprise the second group of projects supported by the Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives awards program, which is supported by funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The Digitizing Hidden Collections program supports the creation of digital representations of unique content of high scholarly significance that will be discoverable and usable as elements of a coherent national collection.

The full article about this grant available on Penn State News.