CENTER, the non-profit photography organization in Santa Fe,
New Mexico, is proud to have received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
and its Humanities Collections and Reference Resources program. The $60,000 grant will support planning
for
Activating the Archive: Preserving 21st-Century Photography, CENTER’s initiative to make nearly 20,000
images and related text into an accessible online resource.
CENTER’s collection is made up of in-depth, socially and environmentally focused lens-based projects.
Each year since 2000, a jury has selected 100 photographers to attend CENTER’s annual flagship program,
the Review Santa Fe Symposium. The collection also includes projects by renowned photographers who
received support through CENTER’s annual grants and awards. The NEH funding will support the design
and testing of a website template. When complete, the website will showcase nearly 20,000 images
alongside captions, artists’ statements, scholarly analysis, and information about the technological, social,
and cultural milestones of the 21st century reflected in the artists’ work.
Mannington © Wendell White
Crossing the Suchiate River © Ada Trillo
“As CENTER celebrates its 30th anniversary, we are excited to receive the NEH’s support as we begin
planning to make our image collection searchable and accessible to the public,” says CENTER’s executive director Laura Wzorek Pressley, who will lead Activating the Archive. “Photo projects produced
with CENTER’s support have responded to timely issues such as immigration and displacement, identity,
citizenship, the human impact of environmental problems, the aftermath of violence and conflict. The
goal of Activating the Archive is to design a website that will encourage the public to learn about
photographers’ methods and how their images reflect the times in which they live.”
CENTER is one of only 33 institutions (18% of applications) chosen this year to receive a grant from the
NEH’s highly competitive Humanities Collections and Reference Resources program, which helps preserve
and expand public access to important historical records and humanities collections.
CENTER will collaborate with Fred Gibbs, Ph.D., an Associate Professor of History at the University of New
Mexico, who will advise on website architecture and development. Professor Gibbs was Director of Digital
Scholarship at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History of New Media from 2009-2013, where he directed
and collaborated on dozens of pioneering digital history projects with funding from many agencies,
including NEH, Mellon Foundation, and IMLS. Since arriving at UNM, Gibbs has been developing numerous
digital humanities courses and an open-source platform for publishing student-driven public history
projects. He will advise CENTER on platform selection and data standards for a searchable website that
incorporates photographers’ biographies, maps, and timelines of significant 21st-century events. Text on
the site will include scholarly essays contributed to CENTER’s discussion series, The Democratic Lens:
Photography and Civic Engagement and Photography 20/20 Compendium, both supported by grants
from the NEH.
Activating the Archive will be guided by a Scholar Advisor Counsel that includes Professor Gibbs, curator
Mary Anne Redding of Turchin Center for the Visual Arts at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC;
Digital archivist Rachel Snow, Ph.D., who has previously worked on media collections for New Mexico
Public Media; and Will Wilson, a Diné photographer and Associate Professor at the University of Texas,
Austin, formerly the Head of the Photography Department at the Santa Fe Community College, NM.
Flor de Jamaica © Elizabeth Z. Pineda
CENTER is a 501(c)(3) founded in 1994 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, that supports socially
and environmentally engaged lens-based projects through education, public platforms, funding, and
partnerships. Celebrating 30 years in 2024, CENTER will host its flagship event, the Review Santa Fe Photo
Symposium November 1-3, 2024. Learn more - centersantafe.org/mission.
