Know our histories, know ourselves.
This innovative project, named for Western North Carolina’s “828” area code, centers the voices of historically excluded individuals in the region by working with community partners to design a repository of digitized materials. This collection will become the foundation of a virtual history center that will make the region’s history more accessible to scholars, students, educators, and other public audiences.
Our goal is to support research that incorporates interdisciplinary scholarship into digital projects, thus weaving a more inclusive and accessible tapestry of Western North Carolina’s history and culture. We will use the latest digital technologies to promote awareness of the region’s diverse histories to a broader audience.
“Local History is, at its heart—as is history itself—the study of the human condition in and through time...It begs for studies of how we have lived in the past, in this particular place.”
- On Doing Local History by Carol Kammen
Our Core Values
828 Digital Archives for Historical Equity aims to build a community-driven, accessible digital archive of Asheville and Buncombe County history.
Community
We believe in archives that are community-driven, community-centered, and community-built.
Accessibility
Making archives accessible to all members of the community is central to our project.
Historical Equity
Our work centers historically overlooked histories in Asheville and Buncombe County.
