Credits

The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis received a Museums for America grant (of $102,370) from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in the Learning Experiences category for The Ryan White Letters project. Through this digital learning project, the Museum has built upon its groundbreaking and successful permanent exhibit, The Power of Children: Making a Difference, by creating a digital series of educational programs and research resources using a unique letter collection compiled by Ryan White, the Indiana teenager who became internationally known in the early 1980s when he contracted HIV/AIDS.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's approximately 123,000 libraries (link is external) and 35,000 museums. Their mission is to inspire libraries and museums to advance innovation, lifelong learning, and cultural and civic engagement. Their grant making, policy development, and research help libraries and museums deliver valuable services that make it possible for communities and individuals to thrive.

The museum also partnered with Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) to complete the digitization of the letters; Brumfield Labs, developers of the transcription tool FromThePage, and digital humanities experts Tassie Gniady and Jennifer Guiliano. Katie Chapman built the initial website.

IUPUI Libraries was chosen as a partner based on their experience of more than fifteen years in both community collaboration and technology development related to digital collections, and their civic engagement focus on supporting local cultural heritage institutions in digital projects. Digitization of the letters was done by Jessica Davenport, Gayathri Depuru, Roxie Dunbar, Lucy Grogg, Mallory Johnson, Aishwarya Karpurapu, Mairelys Lemus-Rojas, Olivia MacIsaac, Anna Proctor, Sammie Smith, and Masada Sparrow under the direction of Jenny Johnson.