NMHM receives grant to go digital

The New Mexico History Museum (NMHM) announced April 30 the Fray Angélico Chávez Library has been awarded a $15,119 grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources’ (CLIR) Recordings at Risk program, with funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The grant will provide critical funding for the digitization and digital infrastructure of more than 200 unique audio recordings made by awardwinning photographer and cinematographer John S. Candelario.

Most of the Candelario Collection recordings are on reel-to-reel audio tapes and include cinematic soundtracks, folk songs, Native dances and interviews. Creating digital copies will protect the original material and greatly expand access for anyone with an interest in New Mexico history.

Increasing access to collections and protection of historic materials are major objectives of NMHM. Limited opportunities for in-person access to the library and the fragile condition of archival audio materials have been significant issues. The CLIR grant addresses both of these problems with respect to the Candelario Collection.

NMHM is once again grateful to the CLIR and the Museum of New Mexico Foundation for their support. This grant will provide new levels of protection for the recordings of John Candalario and allow the museum to share his exceptional work for the first time in decades.

This is the second grant the Fray Angélico Chávez Library has received from CLIR, but the first for this program. The library was one of only 17 grant recipients nationwide selected out of more than 100 applicants.