History Center LF/LB Receives Large National Archives Grant

In November, the Archivist of the United States, Dr. Colleen Shogan, approved 11 proposals submitted to the NHPRC-MELLON Planning Grants for Collaborative Digital Editions in African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Native American History and Ethnic Studies. The History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff was one of the two Illinois recipients and will receive $105,704 over the next two years to support the planning of a collaborative digital publication, Deeply Rooted and Rising High: African American Experiences in Lake Forest. (Find the NHPRC press release with list of grantees here). The National Archives grants program is carried out with the advice and recommendations of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

The planning for this new open-access digital publication will provide online access to the collection of materials on the history of the Black population of Lake Forest, Illinois, covering 1860 to the present day. The publication will provide new access to primary documents, including personal interviews, images, interactive maps, and digitized material culture, none of which are currently available to the public. This work will expand upon the History Center’s recent Black history lecture series, exhibition, and research initiative—funded in part by the American Historical Association and National Endowment of the Humanities in 2022.

The publication’s current collaborative team is led by Courtney Joseph, Associate Professor in the African American Studies Department at Lake Forest College, and Carol Summerfield, Executive Director of the History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff, in Lake Forest, Illinois. The working team includes Lake Forest College faculty and students, select graduate students from Loyola University’s Public History Department, community advisors from the Black residents of Lake Forest, and the curatorial staff from the museum.

“Using Lake Forest as a model, this new digital publication will advance research in American History,” explains Carol Summerfield, Executive Director of the History Center. “The collection will provide new materials that help analyze links between early access to quality education, home and business ownership, and proven and sustained economic advances in Black socioeconomic status following the Civil War. Scholars can use the materials to explain how and why populations change in small cities outside Chicago, correcting the gaps of past research, which has predominately focused only on urban and adjacent suburban.”

Adds Laurie Stein, Deputy Director and Head of Curation, “Our initial model is planned around three core topic areas: building community, building opportunity, and building neighborhoods. These categories provide collection opportunities for materials that illuminate experiences in education, jobs, training, housing, religious institutions, networking organizations, and social clubs and activities. We’re particularly focused on the materials that illustrate the Lake Forest’s Black community’s development of self-governed institutions and organizations, social events, and informal community building activities, and connections with the educational institutions surrounding them. Our goal is to make this a living collection, adding materials on an ongoing basis.”

“The supporting materials include oral interviews, written personal histories and personal papers of several Black families who have resided in Lake Forest for more than 100 years,” describes Summerfield. “Their participation in the development of this project has been essential to both the material culture development and the narrative framing for the work done to date. Without their generosity and committed partnership, this project would never have been possible.”

Estimated time for completion of planning is two years—the proposed execution plan for the project is currently scoped to take three years.

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) of the National Archives supports projects that promote access to America's historical records to encourage understanding of our democracy, history, and culture. The 15-member Commission includes representatives from all three branches of the Federal government as well as the leading archival and historical professional associations. Archivist of the United States Dr. Colleen Shogan is the Chair, and Christopher Eck is the Executive Director. Since it was established in 1934 along with the National Archives, the NHPRC has awarded 5,200 grants for preserving, publishing, and providing access to the nation’s historical documents.

The History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff connects people and inspires curiosity by exhibiting, preserving, sharing, and celebrating history. The museum’s award-winning programs, exhibits and educational initiatives provide audiences with an understanding of how communities develop, change, and grow and help further develop one's sense of self, place, and community.