We are excited to announce that MARMIA has received an Anacostia Trails Heritage Area (ATHA) Rocket Grant! With this grant, we will enhance the accessibility of our WJZ-TV collection through the creation of speech-to-text transcripts as well as find ATHA-related content!

The ATHA encompasses over 100 square miles of Northern Prince George’s County – bordered by Washington, D.C. to the south, Montgomery County to the West, Howard and Anne Arundel County to the North, and encompassing portions of Bowie, Glenn Dale, and Cheverly to the East. The WJZ-TV collection was minimally described when we acquired it so it can be difficult to know what we have and locate specific content, but this grant will help us not only digitize new content but also help us transcribe it all. Overall, the speech-to-text transcripts will make our video collection considerably more searchable.

This three-month project began on April 1, 2022, and will continue through June 30, 2022. At the completion of the project, the ATHA-related digital clips will be uploaded to MARMIA’s various online platforms and be made available for everyone to view. We hope that the archival footage we find can be reused to tell new stories and encourage people to visit and learn more about the ATHA. Stay tuned!

The “Discovering the Anacostia Trails Heritage Area in the WJZ-TV Collection” Project was supported by Maryland Milestones/ATHA Inc. and Maryland Heritage Areas Authority.

Published by avtechmarmia