The Wyoming State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB) has awarded grant funds to five Wyoming organizations that are promoting preservation of and access to Wyoming’s historical records.
The Eastern Shoshone Tribe Archives received $2,500 to sponsor a two day record records management workshop from Native American Development Corporation/American Indian Consulting Services. Tribal staff members will learn best practices for managing their current records, as well as how to identify records of historical or legal value for permanent retention.
Hoofprints of the Past Museum in Kaycee will use their $1333.25 grant to convert sixty-seven VHS tapes of oral history interviews and local historical tours to digital format. They will then mount these files on their website for public access.
The Hot Springs County Museum and Cultural Center in Thermopolis will use their $2,500 grant to digitize photographs and other historical records of the coal towns Gebo, Crosby, and Kirby, resulting in a searchable collection on their website.
The Professional Land Surveyors of Wyoming organization will use a grant of $1,685 to digitize and index civil engineering and land survey records, including plans and notebooks, for public access. They are seeking a useful online platform to make these often hidden materials accessible to the general public.
The University of Wyoming Coe Library will use their $2,400 award to convert over 700 stereograph photos of Yellowstone (digitized under a SHRAB grant this year) to 3-D images. This process will allow online viewers to see the images in the lifelike way in which they were first made available.
The grants are available to Wyoming cultural heritage organizations for projects to process, preserve, and provide increased access to historical records. Projects eligible for funding include digitizing historical records, providing access to them online, processing collections of historical records, and attending training that will improve the organization’s ability to complete these types of projects.
The Wyoming SHRAB promotes the identification, preservation and dissemination of the state’s historical records, by encouraging and supporting ongoing training programs for state, triba,l and local governments, local repositories, organizations, and others involved in records care in Wyoming. The program is administered by the Wyoming State Archives, which is part of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources. Funding for these projects is made available through a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.