VCU Libraries has received a $24,585.00 grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) to support the preservation of the Films of Richmond Police Department (RPD) Surveillance Records (1961-1973). 

The award was part of CLIR’s “Recordings at Risk” program, which is made possible by funding from the Mellon Foundation.

The VCU Libraries’ project was one of 26 selected for funding out of 74 applicants nationally. “This competitive selection process underscores the significance and merit of our project,” said Dean of Libraries and University Librarian Irene Herold. “These films document a significant historic part of the struggle for civil rights in the South and will provide new information and insights for study.” 

VCU Libraries will preserve and provide access to 156 films and 13 audio reels from the Richmond, Virginia Police Department (RPD) Surveillance Records (1961 -1973). The films include footage of: Black Panther Party meetings and activities in the 1960s; anti-draft, anti-war, and anti-busing protests; student protests at local universities; marches including the Poor People's Campaign, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and the trial of H. Rap Brown. 

These films will provide new opportunities to investigate aspects of the Civil Rights Movement for scholars from a wide variety of disciplines and locations.  

“In my experience, this Surveillance Media Collection is unique,” said VCU History Professor Brian J. Daugherity, an historian of the Civil Rights Movement.. “There are few archival collections dealing with the Black Power movement, Black Panther Party, and related individuals nationwide, and none that I know of in the South. The preservation and digitization of materials in this archive offers the possibility of investigating new aspects of the civil rights struggle in the South.” 

The grant also allows for a partnership with the history museum of Richmond, The Valentine. "Preservation of the film in the Richmond Police Department (RPD) Surveillance Records will provide access to an important collection of audiovisual materials documenting Civil Rights era activities in Richmond," said Meg Hughes, deputy director of collections at the Valentine. “The Valentine's holdings include a collection of similar surveillance activities by the RPD during the same period, and this grant provides the opportunity to make the public aware of both collections."

The Council on Library and Information Resources is an independent, nonprofit organization that forges strategies to enhance research, teaching, and learning environments in collaboration with libraries, cultural institutions, and communities of higher learning.