New Newberry Library $4m Grant Will Expand Access to Indigenous Studies Collections

The Newberry Library has received a $4m grant from the Mellon Foundation which will fund a five-year project aiming to transform how Indigenous histories are preserved, accessed, and represented, and strengthen collaboration with tribal nations. 

The Newberry holds one of the largest print and manuscript collections on Indigenous history, with more than 130,000 volumes, one million manuscript pages, 2,000 maps, 500 atlases, 11,000 photographs, and 3,500 drawings.

“This transformative investment will expand our outreach to and collaboration with Indigenous nations which, in turn, will deepen the opportunities to understand and interpret our collection materials” said Astrida Orle Tantillo, the Newberry’s President and Librarian. “It is the Newberry’s mission to make its collection materials available to all, and we are so excited that the Mellon grant will greatly expand access to these resources.”

More than half of the grant’s resources will directly support tribal nations through honoraria, travel, training, digitization, fellowships, and collaborative projects. A major priority is the digitization of the Ayer North and Middle America Linguistics Collection (2,439 items in more than 300 Indigenous languages) and other collection materials selected by tribal nations. These digitized items will then be easily accessible on the library’s website, greatly supporting language revitalization, scholarly research, and community-led projects.

The grant also funds three new staff positions, enabling the library to expand outreach and further embed Indigenous cultural protocols into cataloging, digitization, and access policies.

“These funds will help us build partnerships rooted in respect and reciprocity,” said Rose Miron, the Newberry’s Vice President for Research and Education. “We will support community access and enable tribal nations to determine who may access culturally sensitive knowledge.”