The Council on Library and Information Resources has awarded the University of Texas at Austin’s Harry Ransom Center a 2015 Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives grant of $126,730 for the purpose of digitizing over 24,000 pages from its Gabriel García Márquez archive. Sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the award will take effect June 2016 in the form of an 18-month project. During this time, manuscripts, notebooks, scrapbooks, photographs, and other relics from the Colombian writer’s archive, which dates from 1950 through 2013, will be scanned and published online.
The project will notably feature a tool called the Mirador Image Viewer, which enables researchers to determine the order of revision within various stages of drafts. A press release promises that García Márquez’s free online archive will also “serve as an introduction to those not accustomed to using archival materials.”
Ransom Center Director Stephen Enniss said in a statement, “This project is notable for many reasons, including providing online access to copyright-protected archival material by one of the most revered literary figures of our time. There are few opportunities for researchers to access digitized archives of contemporary authors. This initiative is possible due to the enthusiastic support and endorsement of García Márquez’s family.”