About the Traveling Archivist Program (TAP): TAP is funded by a National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) grant. This position is governed by the Colorado Historical Records Advisory Board (CHRAB) with oversight from the State Archives. TAP was established in January of 2024 by inaugural archivist Hadley Kluber Seifert with the goal of furthering the reach of archival funding and support to underserved archival institutions in Colorado.
What TAP does: TAP provides both one-on-one support to selected institutions and training and educational resources to all institutions across Colorado.
The one-on-one support will be decided by the individual institution's needs determined by an application process. This application process is still being determined and will become active in 2025. Types of one-on-one support could be assistance with digitization, grant writing, staff training, disaster planning, or anything else archival related.
The initial launch of TAP focuses on the following 17 counties in the Southwest corner of Colorado due to their underrepresentation in comparison to other counties receiving CHRAB grant funds for archival projects: Alamosa, Archuleta, Conejos, Costilla, Custer, Dolores, Hinsdale, Huerfano, La Plata, Mineral, Montezuma, Montrose, Ouray, Rio Grande, Saguache, San Juan, and San Miguel. If your institution is in one of these counties, please consider filling out the Needs Assessment Survey (English) or Needs Assessment Survey (Spanish) before January 1st, 2025. The Needs Assessment Survey will help TAP ascertain the greatest needs of these counties while the program continues to be developed.
The resources available to all institutions are a combination of virtual and in-person support. See below for links for virtual resources. TAP also collaborates with CHRAB to host in-person workshops across the State.
The next in-person workshop will take place in Alamosa, Colorado on Monday, September 23rd, 2024 on the topics of digitization, photo preservation, and processing collections. The location and specifics are still to be determined. TAP and CHRAB will be available on Tuesday, September 24th,2024 to conduct site visits to a limited number of local institutions. To sign up for a site visit, please email CHRAB@state.co.us .
Virtual resources available:
CHRAB Continuing Education Scholarship Opportunities
CHRAB Historical Records Preservation Re-Grant Program
Regional Memory Lab - Opportunity for digitization help for Southeast Colorado institutions
Tap Eligibility: TAP looks to service archives, libraries, museums, historical societies, visitors centers, or any other kind of Colorado institution with one-of-a-kind archival materials available to the public. Eligibility is determined by the grant funder, NHPRC. In short, it funds projects, like TAP, that focus on: “collecting, describing, preserving, compiling, digitizing, and publishing records collections significant to the history of the United States.” NHPRC does not fund projects to purchase historical records, renovate or construct buildings, nor does it undertake arrangement, description, or preservation of privately owned documents.
Contact: For more information, please contact the current Traveling Archivist, Hadley Kluber Seifert, at dpa_traveling.archivist@state.co.us .