EMC Corporation announced three organizations as grant recipients of the 2015 EMC Heritage Trust Project. The grants will support projects that practice and encourage the stewardship of cultural information in local communities in Canada, Colombia and the Philippines.
Founded in 2007, EMC's Information Heritage Initiative helps advance the conservation of information heritage through digitization around the world, allowing readily accessible online research and education. In conjunction with the initiative, the EMC Heritage Trust Project recognizes and supports local people and local projects that practice and inspire the digital stewardship of the world's information heritage. To date, EMC has recognized more than 40 projects with Heritage Trust grants and, through the broader EMC Information Heritage Initiative, has donated more than $40 million.
2015 Grant Recipients
- Digitization of the Radar Collections, Canada – During World War II, Canada provided the 2nd largest radar contingent, loaning more than 6,000 personnel to the British Royal Air Force alone, as well as building and maintaining radar on shore. These men and women signed the Official Secrets Act, standing by as the history of the war unfolded in texts and film without their inclusion. The Secrets of Radar Museum is the only radar-specific history museum in Canada. It shares the stories that World War II veterans were not allowed to tell due to a 50-year oath of secrecy. Through digitization, the museum will be able to share these materials with a much broader audience.
- History of Latin America High Education Administered through Spanish Royal Decrees, Colombia – The Historical Archive of the University of Rosario preserves and safeguards a collection of more than 950 volumes of manuscripts and printed documents concerning the history of the College between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries, including a set of Royal Decrees issued between the kingdoms of Felipe IV and Carlos IV. The Royal Decrees provide insights into colonial institutions and society. Despite their great historical importance, the royal decrees have not received adequate treatment and have begun to deteriorate, requiring digitization to preserve this important collection.
- Ulahingan Chronicles Digitization: Preserving a Philippine Oral Tradition, Philippines – Ulahingan is a major epic of the Manobo indigenous group in Mindanao, Philippines, with 4,000-6,000 lines per episode and 79 episodes on average. This tradition is orally passed from one generation to the next. The epic has been orally recorded in over 1,200 items of reels and cassette tapes. The Filipinas Heritage Library (FHL) recognizes the need to digitally preserve these traditions as part of its mission to preserve and promote accessibility to learning resources on Philippine culture and heritage for the present and future generations.
The EMC Heritage Trust Project grant recipients were selected based on the following criteria: potential size of the audience that would benefit from access to the information they are seeking to protect; the at-risk status of the information and why it is urgent to digitize; and how beneficial the EMC grant would be to the overall success of the project.
