Getty Images has recently visited Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to help digitize thousands of documents and photographs connected to the HBCU’s history, according to a new article from the university’s student newspaper, SouthernDIGEST.
The project was made possible through Getty Images’ HBCU Photo Archive Grant Program. Since the initiative was launched in 2021, Getty Images has supported nine historically Black colleges and universities in digitizing and restoring fragile archival materials.
From March 31 to April 3, a team from Getty Images worked with archivists and student interns at Southern University’s John B. Cade Library to process yearbooks, awards, photographs, and other prints from throughout the university’s 145-year history. The digitization of Southern University’s archives will make finding specific documents significantly easier to find.
Getty Images and Southern University have also partnered with Adnet Global, a content creation and post-production house, to assist with uploading scanned materials into an online platform. Adnet’s expertise will assist in the process of restoring images and documents, removing defects such as fingerprints, scratches, and dust.
“It’s a balance between the archivable side and the digitization side,” said Angela Proctor, the archivist and digitization librarian at Southern University. “We have probably close to 5,000 [materials]… but only 1 percent of them have been digitized. The process is ongoing.”
Getty Images’ HBCU collection, including Southern University’s recent additions, can be viewed here.
