In 2024, Northern Illinois University’s Latino and Latin American Studies Center received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to create the Midwest Latinx Oral History Digital Library. Most of the funding supported work at Northern Illinois University Libraries.
In 2025, the new presidential administration withdrew this grant along with other awards for humanities projects at many institutions. After funding ended in mid-2025, Northern Illinois University’s Division of Research and Innovation Partnerships provided support through the Montgomery Innovation Fund. This funding allowed a graduate student assistant to continue work on the project. In 2026, the project is still ongoing.
Dr. Warren Montgomery created the Montgomery Innovation Fund in 2020 to honor his late wife, Dr. Carla Montgomery, who served as Associate Professor of Geology and Associate Dean of the Graduate School at Northern Illinois University.
When finished, the Midwest Latinx Oral History Digital Library will include over 300 interviews in audio, video, and transcript formats. It will be available online to researchers and the public, and it will be the only online Latinx history collection of its kind. This project is important because it preserves underrepresented histories, highlights community voices, and expands the story of the Midwest by showing Latinx contributions beyond the coasts and the southwestern United States. It will serve as both a scholarly and community resource.
Explore the project website, which features 15 interviews from the Midwest Latinx Oral History Digital Library.
Fred Barnhart, Dean of Northern Illinois University Libraries, commented on the project:
“The changes at the federal level put the Latinx Digital Library project at risk just as Professor Christina Abreu from the Center for Latino and Latin American Studies was starting work on a major multi-year grant. At a critical moment, Warren Montgomery’s support through the Montgomery Innovation Fund allowed the project to keep moving forward. When finished, this project will create the first fully searchable, freely available online archive of Latinx oral histories. Donor support matters, and in this case, it helps NIU continue important work and lead in areas that need greater attention.”
