La Casita’s digital collection of well over 1000 community-sourced stories, photos and videos, has been awarded an Access and Digitization Grant that will enable the archive to be accessible and searchable online in 2021. The project in partnership with Syracuse University Libraries and the Central New York Library Resources Council (CLRC), aims to make the content of La Casita’s digital archive accessible through the New York Heritage Digital Collection and SU Libraries. Phase 1 of the project to be completed this year, will include 200 videos.
“This project coincides with the commemoration of La Casita’s 10th anniversary next fall and we are super excited to make this archive available to scholars, artists and researchers on a much wider scale,” said Tere Paniagua, executive director of the Office of Cultural Engagement for the Hispanic Community at Syracuse University.
The New York Heritage Digital Collection is a research portal for students, educators, historians, genealogists, and anyone interested in learning more about the peoples, places, and institutions of New York State. “We look forward to adding new content to the archive at least once a year,” expressed La Casita’s librarian and archivist, Dragana Drobnjak. “Our aim is to make our entire collection accessible and make sure that the Latinx communities and cultures of Central NY are well represented in these important collections for the first time.”