UCLA Library funds 30 international cultural preservation projects

The UCLA Library Modern Endangered Archives Program (MEAP), which funds work to document and digitize at-risk archival collections around the world, has awarded 30 grants to its eighth annual cohort. Selected from a record 250 applications, this year's projects span 21 countries and include human rights archives, photography, Indigenous languages and oral traditions.

Since its launch in 2018 with support from Arcadia, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin, MEAP has funded more than 200 projects preserving print, photographic, audiovisual and born-digital materials at risk of loss due to environmental conditions, political uncertainty and inadequate storage.

The new cohort includes several efforts to document communal efforts of resistance and response to human rights violations and political violence. In Guatemala, researchers will survey archives of Ixil survivors' mobilization for justice, while a team in Mexico will preserve records from the country's first truth commission, held 2022-2024.

Other efforts center on oral traditions and cultural memory. In Indonesia, a team will digitize recordings held by the Oral Traditions Association, building on an earlier MEAP-funded survey. In the Philippines, researchers will preserve the Ulahingan, an oral epic of the Indigenous Livunganen-Arumanen Manobo people.

Photography is another area of focus, including the archives of two South African collections - one from photographer Anne Fischer and the other from the Van Kalker Studio - and Argentine photographer Juan Gómez's collection related to fotoclubismo, a 20th-century photography club movement.

With MEAP applications up 25% over the previous year, the program is expanding its support for audiovisual materials. A new $2 million grant from Arcadia will establish dedicated funding for endangered audio, video and film beginning in 2027. This award will also create additional capacity to fund projects involving print and other materials.

"There is an enormous need around the world to preserve endangered cultural heritage," said Rachel Deblinger, director of MEAP. "Arcadia recognized an opportunity to ease the demands on the program while expanding support for audiovisual collections."

MEAP AV Grants will provide up to $100,000 per project, with approximately five awards expected each year. Funding will support work involving deteriorating media, obsolete formats, specialized equipment and digitization services.

See all projects for cohort eight.

MEAP's ninth call for applications is now open, with preliminary applications due Nov. 16. The program invites proposals focused on at-risk collections documenting community voices, cultural expression and historical experiences underrepresented in traditional archives. Materials created with MEAP funding will be published through the open-access UCLA Library Digital Collections repository for community use, research and instruction.