The Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) has partnered with the Institut de Sauvegarde du Patrimoine National (ISPAN) to protect Haitian national patrimony. dLOC will digitize ISPAN's collection of archaeological documentation, architectural designs, research publications from Haitian scholars, and photographs concerning Haiti’s monuments, structures, and cultural and historical sites.
The partnership between dLOC and ISPAN will focus on digitizing the latter's collection of archival documents, photographs, maps, and architectural plans for historical structures throughout Haiti, as well as publications and bulletins concerning archaeological explorations conducted from the 1930s to the present.
The materials are in high demand from scholars of Haiti for architectural plans, maps, and photographs of historic sites that are too difficult to travel to (due to the terrain and lack of infrastructure). In particular, architectural plans for forts built in Haiti’s post-independence period have been an interest among scholars of the Atlantic and the Caribbean, who want to shed light on Haiti’s defense of its sovereignty. There is also interest in forts from Haiti’s pre-independence period from the French, English, and Spanish which is documented in studies by ISPAN staff over the past decades. Digitizing this archive and making it accessible will not only showcase a wide variety of materials for scholarly development, but will also demonstrate and provide the historical context of Haitian structures, including how they were perceived by past researchers and developers.
The timeline for this project has been delayed due to limitations caused by COVID-19.
