The Rural Archives Funding Initiative proposes a scalable statewide support model designed to strengthen the gathering, preserving, and sharing of local history in underserved rural communities. This cost-effective framework combines part-time County History Coordinators, state-supported funding mechanisms, centralized training aligned with archival standards, and foundational digitization and preservation infrastructure.
By pairing local community involvement with professional guidance, the initiative creates a sustainable system that helps rural counties protect historical collections, improve public access, build grant-writing capacity, and develop long-term preservation strategies. Through partnerships with state agencies, universities, archives, museums, libraries, and nonprofit organizations, this model aims to ensure that preservation support is accessible to all communities—regardless of population size or available funding.
