Washington University Libraries has received a $376,426 National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for "The St. Louis Freedom Suits Legal Encoding Project"—one of the largest grants the University Libraries have ever received.

The University Libraries will partner on the project with the Missouri History Museum and several internal partners, including the Humanities Digital Workshop, the Law School Library, and the American Culture Studies Program. The project will focus on pre-Civil War suits brought by enslaved persons against slaveholders in the St. Louis Circuit Court. In addition to transcribing the records, the project will develop a standard for encoding the legal function of the documents, which will provide a model for similar archives.

The two-year project begins December 1, 2009.

Source & Full Story