(Digital Collections) The Other February Music Award That Matters: Celebrating a Big Win for the BGMRP

It’s one thing to be excited about recognition from big names like the Smithsonian Institution, but it’s just as rewarding to get a pat on the back from your home institution – to, as we say in Texas, “dance with the one that brung us.” That’s why we were honored as a team to receive the 2016 Baylor University Diversity Enhancement Award for the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project. The Digital Projects Group team – and associated friends – received the honor at the Cultural Connection Celebration on Thursday, February 9 at the gleaming new Foster Campus for Business and Innovation.

According to its issuing body, the Campus Diversity Committee:

The Award is given to individuals (staff and faculty), organizations or programs within Baylor University that strengthen and promote respect for diversity through innovative leadership and service or practices and programs designed to enhance a climate of understanding and respect throughout the campus community.

The BGMRP was honored for our work to acquire, preserve and make accessible the rare American black gospel recordings we digitize every day. We were also recognized for being a nationally visible outreach project of the university, an example of the good work being done by the University Libraries to promote, protect and provide access to scholarship for our campus community and beyond.

Below are some photos of the event; courtesy lines are included to thank the multiple contributors who made this post visually appealing.

The BGMRP team (left to right): Prof. Robert Darden, Eric Ames, Darryl Stuhr, Kara Long, Stephen Bolech, Travis Taylor. Photo courtesy Dr. Mia Moody-Ramirez.

The team listens as interim President David Garland presents the award. Photo courtesy Dr. Mia Moody-Ramirez.

Assistant Director for Digital Projects Darryl Stuhr addresses the crowd. Photo courtesy Baylor Marketing & Communications.

Prof. Robert Darden speaks of the team’s important work. Photo courtesy Baylor Marketing & Communications.

Prof. Darden and President Garland shake hands as Stephen Bolech and Kara Long look on. Photo courtesy Baylor Marketing & Communications.

To learn more about the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project, visit
http://www.baylor.edu/library/gospel.