About the Archive

Digital Archive

The Reclaiming the Border Narrative Digital Archive is a community-focused archive centering the diversity and multidimensionality of experiences that transcend dominant narratives and amplifies the creative works of artists, advocates, journalists, and cultural practitioners dedicated to advancing migrant justice and a broader understanding of US-Mexico border communities.

The archive was developed in collaboration with participants from the Reclaiming the Border Narrative: Storytelling and Cultural Power for Migrant Justice grant recipients. The voices, stories, and creative expressions represented in this collection belong to historically marginalized communities who have endured exclusionary and extractive practices. The University of Arizona Libraries’ Special Collections is a leading archival repository of collections on the US-Mexico borderlands. Collecting, preserving, and providing access to these materials is an ongoing effort to address gaps in the archival record demonstrating an ethic of care that is attentive to self-representation and documentation.

As archival partners building and sustaining a reciprocal relationship with contributors, we understand our role as facilitators in the co-creation, activation, and ethical stewardship of a digital space for border communities’ cultural resources. Our collaborative approach to preservation and access endeavors to balance archival best-practices while being responsive to the differing archiving priorities and needs of each contributor and their user communities.

Online Exhibit

The Reclaiming the Border Narrative Digital Archive online exhibit includes selections from digital collections of project and organizational materials created, curated, and described by Reclaiming the Border Narrative grantee contributors. The exhibit provides digital access to materials from the following sources:

• Donations to University of Arizona Libraries’ Special Collections.
• Contributor created and maintained digital collection sites created with support from the RBN project and hosted by University of Arizona Libraries.
• Web archives of independently created and self-hosted contributor websites preserved by the University of Arizona Libraries.

The archive and exhibit are in development. Collections will be added to the exhibit as contributions to the archive are received.

Archival Description and Harmful Language

Central to the Reclaiming the Border Narrative project is the accurate description of materials and the respectful representation of people depicted in the Digital Archive. Discoverability of resources in North American libraries and archives is predominantly controlled with predetermined lists of terms and phrases established by the Library of Congress. These controlled vocabularies often use terminology that does not respect preferred, current language used by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, LGBTQIA+ people, and people with disabilities.

In our effort to avoid the use of harmful language we have implemented a description framework for the Digital Archive that offers broad subject access and appropriate related and locally derived terms alongside accepted people-first and identity-first alternative controlled vocabularies and style guides that promote inclusive, anti-bias, and anti-racist description of people and resources in this archive.

Contributor Supplied Description and Community Terms

The RBN Digital Archive is a community-focused archive that prioritizes the lived experiences of the creators and communities who are represented in and use these archives. We are making every effort to include contributor supplied description of materials and preferred language for self-identification. Contributors are encouraged to provide community-centric keywords to provide greater discoverability for their respective home communities. In some instances, contributors have shared bilingual (Spanish and English) description that uses regional, local, and community preferred language for people, places, and concepts that reflect the worldview of the creators and contributors to this archive.