Artifacts of Activism, Resistance, and Life in Delaware Catalog Launched

Working in concert with the University of Delaware Anti-Racism Initiative and a range of professional and community partners, students in our Collections Management course (MSST 401/601) built a digital catalog that aggregates artifacts related to histories of race and racism in Delaware from repositories across the country.

Artifacts of Activism, Resistance, and Life in Delaware (AARLD), is a digital catalog of artifacts that illuminates histories of people of color in Delaware and aims to inspire new antiracist historical research. Antiracist practice can involve both acknowledging systemic racism as well as the varied and complex historical experiences of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC). As a result, you can explore our item set “Reasons for Resistance” to learn just how deep the history of racism runs in Delaware, but we have deliberately emphasized objects that highlight the power of BIPOC individuals and communities to advocate, resist, and live in the state of Delaware.

The catalog does not include every artifact related to the broad categories of race and racism in Delaware. Instead, it is a typology that groups representative artifacts into thematic item sets related to promising areas for antiracist research. Links to those sets are below, and each individual item illustrates how a certain type of artifact can help us better understand histories of race and racism.

Please check out all the hard work done by our students and the incredible artifacts that can only be found online here!