Information Gathering, Digitization and Preservation

Information Gathering, Digitization and Preservation

Collaborators are locating historical sources needed to understand how histories and legacies of slavery relate to the past, present and possible future of Washington University in St. Louis. In addition to digitizing materials in our university collections, such as the papers of founding chancellor William Greenleaf Eliot, we are reviewing collections of visual art and photography, maps, and many other sources in our own and other libraries and archives. We are using digitization and visualization to make these materials more accessible to research, teaching and other uses on our campus and in the broader community. Finally, partners in the university museum and libraries are helping us build this initiative into the fabric of the institution so that its contributions to teaching, research and repair are enduring.

Spotlight: St. Louis Integrated Database of Enslavement

Pictured: 1868 map highlighting the farms of Thomas Skinker, Robert Forsyth, and others in the vicinity of the present-day Danforth campus, where African Americans were enslaved (Courtesy of Sarah Umlauf).