Center for Black Digital Research, Library of Congress forge new partnership

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — One of the signature events for Penn State’s Center for Black Digital Research (CBDR), Douglass Day has proven to be a highly creative and effective way to transcribe a vast trove of digitized African American historical documents — including the writings of its namesake, iconic abolitionist and social reformer Frederick Douglass.

Now the program, which will be observed Feb. 14, is poised for even greater success, thanks to a new high-profile partner — the Library of Congress (LOC).

CBDR and LOC recently signed a three-year agreement to collaborate on Douglass Day and LOC’s By the People initiative, a crowdsourced transcription program that invites the public to help transcribe the library’s digital collections.

As part of the agreement, Douglass Day will provide input on potential collections for consideration for digitization by LOC; promote By the People campaigns for future Douglass Day events; provide potential crowdsourcing datasets for consideration by recommending officers to be added to the library’s collections; and share information on internship and fellowship opportunities with students and faculty interested in working with LOC collections.

“It’s so exciting to resurrect Douglass Day, the once-celebrated holiday that grew into Black History Week and then Black History Month, and to repurpose it as a day of collective love for Black history,” said P. Gabrielle Foreman, Paterno Family Professor of American Literature and professor of African American Studies and history, and co-director of CBDR, which is supported by the College of the Liberal Arts and Penn State University Libraries and is committed to digitally preserving the histories of early Black organizing through innovative scholarship and partnerships. “This agreement with the Library of Congress seeks to involve even more people from across the globe in a collective effort to make Black history — and the records which preserve it — fully and freely accessible. We are thrilled to build on our partnership with the Library of Congress in this new endeavor.”

Jim Casey, assistant professor of African American studies, history and English, associate director of CBDR, and the founding co-director of Douglass Day, agreed.

“Partnering with the Library of Congress really cements the presence of the Center for Black Digital Research on the national stage,” Casey said.  “We are thrilled to partner with the Library of Congress to grow these efforts even more in collaboration with their infrastructure and reach.”

Created in 2017 and celebrated every Valentine’s Day — the day the once-enslaved Frederick Douglass chose as his birthday — Douglass Day gives volunteers from numerous locations around the world the chance to come together to transcribe and learn about a specific online collection of Black history and culture.

In 2021, Douglass Day partnered with By the People and the Library of Congress Manuscript Division to transcribe the papers of Mary Church Terrell. The event brought in a record number of participants — 7,600 people across 117 groups and locations — and broke the LOC record for transcriptions in a single day, with nearly 7,000 pages on By the People’s website seeing activity.

This year’s Douglass Day will focus on LOC’s collection of Douglass’ general correspondence, with the goal of transcribing all 8,731 pages by day’s end. The event will take place from noon to 3 p.m. at University Park and other Penn State campuses. Those interested in participating can register here.

“Douglass Day honors the life and legacy of a great African American abolitionist, writer and speaker, and the Library of Congress is thrilled to join Penn State in inviting all Americans to transcribe his papers on this special day of celebration and remembrance,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden.

Previous Douglass Days have focused on the archives of such historic figures as Anna Julia Cooper in 2020 and Mary Ann Shadd Cary in 2023, while collaborators have included the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the African American Museum of Philadelphia, and Howard University's Moorland Spingarn Research Center, as well as 615 schools, libraries, churches and community organizations.

“Our annual Douglass Day celebration emerged to recognize Douglass’s 40-year involvement in Black-led organizing for educational access, legal and voting rights, and economic justice as a leader of the Colored Conventions movement,” Foreman said. “Every Feb. 14, we also honor Douglass’s commitment to women’s rights and acknowledge the women who founded this recently forgotten holiday.”

The event is the culmination of a year-round effort by a team of faculty, students and staff that in addition to Foreman and Casey includes Denise Burgher, Courtney Murray, Eden Mekonen, Pheolyn Allen, Summer Hamilton, Gabrielle Sutherland and Jennifer Isasi.

Thanks to their combined efforts, Douglass Day typically features a curriculum, speakers, performers and other unique touches like an accompanying Spotify playlist and a birthday cake for Douglass that has evolved into a full-fledged competition.

“During the pandemic, when baking became such a big part of people’s days, we started having a bakeoff among our participants. Last year, we had 30 or 40 cakes,” Casey said. “History is not just a place for solemn and somber reflection — there are lots of good things to celebrate. Part of the goal of Douglass Day is for people to have fun engaging with these histories.

“It takes a lot of effort to find meaning in large, digitized collections. We find people really respond to invitations to help transcribe and transform these historical archives,” Casey added. “It’s very satisfying to see the ways people incorporate this new academic research into their daily lives. It really speaks to them — they’re interested in the facts and dates and personalities, but they’re also able to see the people in these archives as real and very human people.”

Clarence Lang, Susan Welch Dean of the College of the Liberal Arts, and Faye Chadwell, Dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications, both believe the partnership has great long-term potential.

“I am thrilled to see the Center for Black Digital Research partner with the Library of Congress on this mutually beneficial initiative,” Lang said. “Douglass Day has already made remarkable strides in its mission to make Black history more accessible to future generations of researchers. Now, thanks to these increased resources, I’m confident that work will continue to expand at an even more significant level. For me, it just further illustrates the critical role CBDR plays within our college and academia at large.”

Chadwell spoke to the event's impact. 

"Penn State University Libraries is excited to continue its support for the Center for Black Digital Research as it enters into this wonderful agreement with the Library of Congress,” Chadwell said. “Douglass Day has invited tens of thousands of people around the world to transcribe the fascinating records of early African American movements and thinkers. It’s a great way to honor the memory of Frederick Douglass, and it absolutely aligns with Penn State University Libraries' mission and values."