Pacific University Joins the Digital Public Library of America

Last week, over 17,000 historic photographs, documents and recordings digitized by the Pacific University Archives went live on the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) website. DPLA is a national clearinghouse for digitized archives and historic artifacts, bringing together nearly 50 million digitized objects from museums, libraries, and cultural organizations across the United States.

Our inclusion in DPLA is the result of many years of work led by University Archivist Eva Guggemos to share our cultural collections beyond local audiences and align with international standards for historical records. Standing alongside major collections like the New York Public Library and Library of Congress, Pacific has contributed hundreds of audio recordings, thousands of historic photographs, as well as many documents, artwork, video recordings, and other items. 

Pacific is currently the largest single contributing university in Oregon, with about three times as much material as the next largest contributors: UO has 5,750 items uploaded, while OSU has 4,657. Our additions to DPLA reflect our ongoing commitment to supporting research in the humanities and social sciences, and to sharing our unique cultural collections more broadly.