NEH funding to help library create digital repository of Atlantic City history

The Atlantic City Free Public Library’s extensive archival collections related to African American history in the city will soon become easier for the public to explore and utilize.
The library received a grant of $128,826 from the National Endowment for the Humanities to implement “The City of Dreams: the Atlantic City Experience” project.

The City of Dreams project will be the first stage in creating “The Atlantic City Heritage Collections Digital Repository” to provide a new level of online access to the library’s extensive archival collections. The online repository will make available those collections by digitizing, cataloging and placing text, audio and video content on an internet platform for unlimited access.

The City of Dreams project will focus on digitization of the African American history collections. The Atlantic City Heritage Collections offer a wide variety of materials documenting African American history from the city’s inception in 1854 to present day. The collections feature dissertations, oral histories, photographs and biographies that capture the voices of African Americans who grew up, lived, and worked here.

CLICK HERE to read our blog and follow updates about this project.

“Digitizing the many collections concerning African American history in Atlantic City will allow city, the state, the country and the world to see how much African Americans contributed to the growth and the history of the city,” library archivist Jacqueline Silver-Morillo said.

To preserve and digitize these resources, the library will contract with Preservica, an internet cloud-based company, to create an online digital repository.

The Atlantic City Experience and Atlantic City Free Public Library websites will be linked to the new repository, allowing persons seeking greater detail about the city’s history to access information 24/7 on the internet. This will greatly improve research services to our historical collections for residents, students, teachers, authors, archivists and researchers throughout the world.

Those interested in tracking the progress of the City of Dreams: the Atlantic City Experience project can visit the library’s website and Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. Please call Silver-Morillo at (609) 345-2269, ext. 3063, for more information.

The City of Dreams: the Atlantic City Experience project has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.

Photo IDs
(Photo credit: Atlantic City Free Public Library/Atlantic City Heritage Collections)

(Left) Sarah Spencer Washington founded the Apex News & Hair Company and became one of the nation’s first Black female millionaires.

(Front) Parade float participants for Walls Bath House pose with members of the Atlantic City Beach Patrol in 1922.