Institute of Museum and Library Services Provides $1.7 Million of Funding to HBCUs

Recipients will preserve US history and develop the future workforce

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has continued its commitment to Historically Black Colleges and Universities through its FY 2025 slate of discretionary grant recipients. Eight HBCUs and one HBCU alliance received a total of $1,725,261, furthering President Trump's commitment to advancing HBCU excellence, as outlined in this White House Executive Order.

Keith Sonderling, Deputy Secretary of Labor said:

"President Trump's commitment to support our nation's HBCUs has been lived out through these grants. IMLS awards to HBCUs in FY 2025 are furthering the President's commitments, preserving American historical and cultural treasures, increasing institutional resilience and emergency preparedness, and enhancing research activities. Each of the projects IMLS funded furthers the work of HBCU-affiliated museums and libraries while creating hands-on learning opportunities for students and emerging library and museum professionals."

Some of the awarded HBCU projects are detailed below:

• The HBCU Library Alliance (HBCULA) - in collaboration with the American Institute of Physics (AIP), will address the significant under-documentation of contributions made by Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the field of physical sciences. The project will feature a three-day intensive summer workshop on oral history, digital collecting, and digital preservation for ten early and mid-career librarians from HBCUs. This workshop will lay the foundation for ongoing professional development and structured support over the project's two-year period. The primary beneficiaries will be the participating librarians, their institutions, and the broader community interested in HBCU contributions to science. Expected outcomes include enhanced documentation and preservation skills among participants, leading to the creation of open educational resources. Resources will be disseminated widely to foster similar initiatives across the academic community.
  
  
• Jackson State University – The Margaret Walker Center (MWC) at Jackson State University will move its archives to secure, environmentally controlled, temporary storage during building renovations and HVAC replacement made necessary due to severe storm damage in 2023. During this project, the MWC will build upon the HBCU History and Culture Access Consortium (HCAC), a digital humanities initiative with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in two ways: digitizing nearly 1,000 oral histories most threatened by the environmental challenges in Ayer Hall and transferring 35,000 items from a fee-based digital platform to an open-source program used in the HCAC. These efforts will guarantee long-term preservation and access to MWC's collections.
  
  
• Bishop State Community College – Bishop State Community College will inventory, catalog, and make accessible three collections of local 19th- and 20th-century African American materials. The collections contain documents, material culture, and oral history recordings that will provide further historical evidence and materials for research, public programs, and exhibits. Project activities include establishing an archival processing room, conducting a full inventory of the collections, interviewing community stakeholders regarding the collections, developing cataloging procedures, and training staff and interns. The results will be an informed description of the nature of the three collections within the archive and an accurate volume of the collections.
  
  
• Alabama State University – The Alabama State University (ASU) Archives Department (Archives) will increase its capacity to plan for and respond to disasters in the management of its collections. The project is designed in response to recommendations provided to the Archives in a Preservation Needs Report following a 2023 site visit by the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts. Activities include the creation of a disaster response plan, the purchase of disaster response supplies, providing disaster recovery training for staff, and supporting the professional appraisal of select collections items to obtain appropriate insurance coverage. As a result of this project, the Archives will have an updated disaster response plan, disaster response training for 25 staff members, appraisal reports for select materials, the assembly of a minimum of four disaster response kits, and documentary photographs of 70 pieces of art.
  
  
• Southern University at Shreveport – The Southern University Museum of Art (SUMAS) will improve the care and preservation of the art, artifacts, and other significant works that are part of the collection located in a site of historical importance on the Southern University Shreveport campus. This initiative aims to install two portable air conditioning units and four hygrometers to maintain optimal temperature and monitor humidity levels and upgrade the existing cold storage refrigeration unit at SUMAS. The project will result in upgraded displays utilizing digital signage and monitors, supporting collection care and management via professional development and consultation, developing policies and procedures for the care of the collection, documenting environmental conditions using electronic logs and monitoring, implementing appropriate building adaptations, and instituting a routine maintenance plan for the museum that includes housekeeping and remediation.

FY 2026 Notice of Funding Opportunities are now live.

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America's museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. IMLS envisions a nation where individuals and communities have access to museums and libraries to learn from and be inspired by the trusted information, ideas, and stories they contain about our natural and cultural heritage. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn.

SOURCE Institute of Museum & Library Services