To Lae'l Hughes-Watkins, building archives is as much about building relationships as it is about collecting information.

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As of 2023, Project STAND includes a network of over 80 institutions nationwide.

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Prior to her role at the University of Maryland, Lae'l Hughes-Watkins was an archivist at Kent State University.

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A statue of Fredrick Douglass at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland.

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Project STAND is establishing residencies for archivists to create modules on how to teach with primary resources that depict student activism.

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Project STAND:  Student Activism Now Documented

Lae'l Hughes-Watkins is the founder of Project STAND and the associate director for engagement, inclusion, and reparative archiving at the University of Maryland.

A Black librarian wearing large hoop earrings sits facing the camera.

OpenGraph ArchivingStudentActivismMeansMorethanYouThink

Archiving Student Activism Means More than You Think

Artists as Catalysts

Artists as Catalysts Navigation Image

Beyond Incarceration

A side profile of a Black poet who is wearing glasses and a hat with a feather hat pin.

Borderlands Cultures

In portrait orientation, an aerial view of a major highway running parallel to a large border wall set on a hilly landscape

Civic Engagement

A man in a brown jacket stands in front of blue bulletin board that is covered with papers and advertisements  

Evolving Higher Education

A vertical image of an Indigenous person who is sitting on a chair in front of a backdrop.

Expanding Public Knowledge

An interior room filled with audio and video equipment 

Monuments and Memory

A multicolored painted totem pole set in front of a foggy forest landscape

Multivocality

Five people stand together in a group photo. They are laughing and smiling.

Power of the Word

Five colorful neon signs hang on the wall with messages that include, "Freedom cannot wait," "Brown owned," and "America is for Dreamers."

Public Places‚ Public Stories

A group of Indigenous Maskoke people stand and sit in the wooden frame of a structure in a woods

Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora

In a vertical image, a black leather vest is adorned with colorful pins across the front of it. Embroidery on the vest reads: "Felícitas "La Prieta" Méndez" 