About

The HCAC

The History & Culture Access Consortium (HCAC) is a first-of its-kind initiative for Historically Black Colleges and University (HBCU) archives and museums led by the Office of Strategic Partnerships at the National Museum of African American History & Culture (NMAAHC) a Smithsonian Institution to create lasting benefits to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) museums and archives.

The HCAC initiative is committed to amplifying the legacy of HBCUs by enhancing resource availability and making known the under-told history of African Americans and their essential role in the story of America.

Given the tremendous value of HBCU art and archival collections, the HCAC’s highest priority has been the protection and preservation of their institutional treasures. This innovative digital archive expands access to cultural repositories and amplifies public knowledge of African American art, ephemera, objects, and written works.

Establishment of The HCAC

HCAC emerged after a decade-long effort to fulfill NMAAHC’s legislative mandate to work intentionally with HBCU colleagues to sustain the existence and legacy of our shared institutions. To understand the needs of HBCU museums and archives, the Office of Strategic Partnerships (OSP) conducted a national listening tour, focus group discussions, professional convenings, and a national survey. Beginning in 2014, OSP sponsored more than 50 undergraduate interns to work and learn in HBCU archives, galleries, and museums.

In 2018, NMAAHC welcomed presidents and cultural practitioners from ten HBCUs to a landmark Leadership Summit — the first of its kind at the Smithsonian Institution — to explore challenges, identify solutions, and define sustainable efforts to support historic cultural repositories at their institutions.

Information gathered at the Leadership Summit, combined with data from formal research evaluations, led to ongoing collaboration and strategic dialogue to define the investments needed to address both short- and long-term needs of HBCU cultural institutions. This work culminated in the establishment of the HBCU History and Culture Access Consortium (HCAC) in 2021, with five inaugural partners representing museums and archives from Clark Atlanta University, Florida A&M University, Jackson State University, Texas Southern University, and Tuskegee University.

The initiative uses a systems approach to prioritize directives that strengthen university leaders’ support for their museum and archives and encourages collaboration among HBCU partners. Together, these efforts create a model for increased visibility of collections and archival materials in a meaningful way.

HCAC Components

The HCAC is comprised of six core components:

Technical Training and Leadership Development

Building a community of practice through training and leadership development of university executives to center the work of archives and museums on each campus.

Talent Pipeline Development

Paid undergraduate internships and graduate fellowships prioritizing career development, technical skill building, and mentorship for the next generation of cultural sector professionals.

Collections Care and Digitization

Creating an open-access digital archive composed of digitized HBCU collections for use by scholars and the general public.

Traveling Exhibition

The HCAC exhibition features collections from the five institutional partner collections. The exhibition will also include the creation of a multi-volume publication series highlighting the collections of the five HCAC partner museums and archives.

Evaluation and Expansion

HCAC is committed to conducting annual assessments that continually refine this unique community of practice by generating new learning, ensuring project evolution, and accelerating the development of a new model for multi-institutional collaboration.

HCAC Publication

The six-volume series of books will contain high-resolution images of art, objects, and cultural ephemera, along with essays by HBCU scholars, highlighting the collection of each HBCU partner institution, underscoring the richness of art and archival collections, while promoting the study and appreciation of Black art, history, and culture.