Matzie: Grant will fund efforts to digitize, preserve region’s oral history
Sisters of St. Joseph project will convert archive content for web display
Rep. Robert Matzie March 3, 2021 | 12:40 PM
AMBRIDGE, March 3 – A state grant of nearly $5,000 will help preserve and promote the area’s rich oral history by funding a project to transcribe and digitize documents from the Baden Archives and the Allegheny-Kiski Valley Historical Society, state Rep. Rob Matzie announced today.
Matzie, D-Beaver/Allegheny, said the grant to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden is exciting because it will allow the archived information to be placed on the Historic Pittsburgh website for easier access by the public and researchers.
“Some of the richest, most detailed accounts of our history begin life as stories and anecdotes,” said Matzie, who is a member of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. “Those accounts can evaporate over time if they are not transcribed and preserved. Securing funding for this project will help safeguard unique, irreplaceable documents and convert them to a modern format that is more accessible for curious residents, historians, students and future generations.”
Matzie said the grant is part of a package of nearly $200,000 in Historical and Archival Records Care Grants the commission awarded to 31 projects throughout the state for the care and preservation of archival records.
More information about HARC grants is available here.