We are a group of historians, librarians, geographers, writers, and artists who aim to collect, assess, and preserve lost narratives of African American residents of Centre County from 1800 through 1950. In collaboration with local organizations and individuals—Penn State’s College of Liberal Arts, the Penn State University Libraries, and the Centre County Library and Historical Museum—we will place archival resources and artistic and technical expertise in the service of community-collected genealogies, public records, and artifacts. To shift the experiences of black Centre Countians from the margins to the center of conversations about local history, we seek to digitize and publicize documentary evidence previously available only in hard copy, in specialized archives, or as oral tradition. Our project builds on and honors the research of others, and we are currently compiling a database from U.S. census records. We aim to learn how African Americans came to Centre County, what their lives were like here, and where those who moved away made new homes. We will share our findings through the creation of StoryMaps, tours, works of art, and occasional blog posts on this site.
Interested in this project. Glad you have gotten organized. We would like to be contact about future programs and resources.