The McGregor Fund has awarded the University of Virginia Library a $245,000 grant to support a three-year effort to digitize a significant portion of the McGregor Library.

The McGregor Library of American History was donated in 1938 by the McGregor Foundation. The Library includes many rare and historically significant books related to the European exploration of the New World, and was collected by Detroit philanthropist Tracy W. McGregor.

The $245,000 grant will go towards making the collection more accessible to the public by digitizing 300 books from the McGregor Library and providing high resolution images of their pages online through the UVa Library’s online catalog. Volumes included in the digitization project are a 1495 Italian verse translation of Christopher Columbus’ official report of his first voyage and a 1613 etching from explorer Samuel de Champlain’s original sketch, depicting a July 30, 1609 battle where Champlain and a band of Huron Indians defeated a superior Mohawk force.

All of the digitization will be accomplished in-house in our own Digitization Studio starting in January. Keep an eye out for new McGregor volumes to begin showing up online soon!

To read more about the award, check out the UVA Today article here: Grant Awarded to U.Va. Library Will Make Unique Collection Available Online