The Arabian Horse Archives, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization founded to ensure that historical materials relating to the Arabian horse, the oldest and most influential breed in human history, are preserved for future generations. Its mission is to identify, preserve, and protect archival materials relating to the history of the Arabian breed, with special emphasis on endangered collections. The Arabian Horse Archives shall strive to build an accessible digital online library cataloging all such materials, and facilitate their preservation by partnering with various institutions and museums with demonstrated capabilities to maintain important historical materials and artifacts.

The history of the breed is disappearing rapidly around the world, especially in its homelands in the Middle East, and the people who have been the scholars and researchers of the breed history are many of them aged, and their materials are not digitized. Most collections are not organized, let alone catalogued. Some of these scholars have been working with the Archives, but have died before their materials have been archived digitally, and we are left to try to work with those who have inherited their estates, most of whom do not have an interest in the material (unless it is worth something financially) and who do not know what they have or what to do with it.

History preserved is the basis for future existence of the Arabian breed.

1. In the Middle East: Because the Arabian horse is so tightly bound to the Bedouin culture, along with the camel, the falcon and the saluki, it is also vitally important to those from the cradle countries of the Arabian horse who are seeking to preserve their own past. This cultural heritage is also important to the younger generations as they take a more active role in their own countries and governments.
2. Within North America: The accelerating pace of technology is causing a loss of history here, as well, a history of significance to many, as horses had a great role to play in literature, geography and culture.

The Arabian Horse Archives, Inc., began with a planning group in 2012. The group established a vision for the organization, a mission statement, and set up a working group to start a trial website showing how the material might be presented to the public. Beginning with funds donated by the Arabian Horse Owners Foundation (AHOF, now disbanded), Al Khamsa, Inc. (Al Khamsa is another 501(c)(3)), Illinois Al Khamsa, and ARAB INC, all organizations with an interest in the history of the Arabian Horse, the website was completed.

In June of 2017, the Arabian Horse Archives, Inc. was incorporated in the state of Arizona, bylaws were approved, and the IRS approval letter was received, effective back to June 1, 2015. A founding Board and a financial officer was chosen in August of 2017. Board meetings have been held, primarily on a monthly conference call schedule, but also via email.

The trial website was removed, and a new, independent and more robust website set up as https://arabianarchives.org. The process of digitization and website presentation began, and people began donating materials to the the Arabian Horse Archives, Inc. Advice from the International Museum of the Horse and the International Library of the Horse, both museums at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY has been of great importance to the the Arabian Horse Archives, Inc. See attached letters of support.

Corporate Standards: Library of Congress digitization standards were approved for proceeding with Archive digitization. A Deed of Gift form was created, to guarantee that donors could maintain control over their material, and to allow them to keep some donated material private for a fixed period of time. Copyrights are observed, and material not in the public domain is approved for publication on the website only with permission of the copyright holder.

Environmental Impact: The goal of the Archives is: digitize and make available as much of the global history of the Arabian Horse as possible, and to do it with the smallest environmental footprint possible.

Outside of one planning session in 2012, and one planning session done during a meeting of another organization, all meetings of the Board have been done by email or by telephone conference call.

There may come a time when physical space may be required for some items, and in this case, the plans are to work with an existing institution, rather than to create a new facility from scratch.

The the Arabian Horse Archives, Inc. will follow the following steps in advancing our mission to identify, preserve, and protect archival materials relating to the history of the Arabian breed, and shall strive to build an accessible database listing all such materials, and facilitate their preservation.

Online Google files have been created to keep track of people and collections of interest:

Per Person: Contact information per individual, as well as brief summary of what is in their collection and its structure, or their specialty that might be useful to the the Arabian Horse Archives, Inc.

Per Collection: List of collections being tracked, ranked by scarcity — vulnerability — type (book, document, photographs, art, artifact, film) — organization level — collector cooperation.

At this time, the the Arabian Horse Archives, Inc. is small and new enough that everyone on the Board must wear several hats. The Board makes final triage decisions:

1. Choose which collections to prioritize.
2. Does the collector need help with organization or cataloging? Is there help nearby that can be hired, or does someone need to be sent to help?
3. Provide oversight to be sure organization and cataloging are done properly.
4. Locate digitization facility (in house or commercially available). Digital standards chosen are those of the Library of Congress. Metadata standards have been written to fit our particular needs.

To prepare for digitization, a collection must first be organized for cataloging. Then cataloging must be done so that each item is entered into the Archives database with individual identification number and item information.

Following preparation for digitization, items move as follows: Digitize / write metadata / enter full size digital file in AWS-S3 storage by URL and backed up on stand-alone hard drives / enter metadata and web image file in MySQL database / link to public website, with permission / add image/link to social media accounts. Physical location and care of items is left to the owner if at all possible. If the Archives receives ownership of items, it shall either sell duplicate items or place items with an appropriate cooperating institution.

Immediately, we are grant-dependent. Once the basic infrastructure is set up, collections can be managed by asking for specific donations for that specific group of items. We will need to work towards an endowment so that income from it can be used to cover ongoing expenses.

When possible, we will need to recruit and train volunteers to help evaluate collections in the field. We will need to train digitizers and metadata writers. We will have to have contracts with IT services and/or personnel to handle maintenance of the large databases and the public website and advise on refreshment procedures. We will need to help fund archival activity at cooperating institutions to help them help us.

This grant proposal is requested to, over the next two years, fund the following efforts, which will proceed concurrently:

1. Choose which collections to prioritize.
2. Back end infrastructure: A database that will have the capacity to track all items and all persons, and hold digital full-sized backups of all items. Dr. Randal Abler, Georgia Tech, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, retired.
3. Front end website: Expansion of the existing public website to create more functionality. Jillison Parks, San Sheriff Studio.
4. Processing of two or three large collections. Jeanne Craver, Head Librarian, Arabian Horse Archives. have been written to fit our particular needs.

Allow three months of the Librarian’s time at $60,000 year, one-quarter time equalling $15,000. The Archive funds the rest of the salary, as required. We will choose several major collections as part of the funding from this grant. This includes organization, cataloging, arranging for or doing digitization, filing original scans on AWS servers, writing metadata and entering it into our MySQL database, setting up internet quality images and posting on our public website.

Hardware: allow $5000

1. Film scanner
2. Stand alone hard drives for back up storage
3. Book scanner

Proposed Collections of various sizes

1. The Sandra Rolland collection of photographs, books and documents, in the possession of her sons, Missouri.
2. The Lois (Selby) Perry Lane collection of documents and photographs, in her possession, California.
3. The Alice L. Payne collection of papers, photographs and negatives, movie films, and farm manager’s records purchased from her sons, Robert Payne and Pat Payne, by Joyce Gregorian Hampshire, and given after her death by John Hampshire to Robert J Cadranell, Washington (not including books, her correspondence from Carl Raswan, and still photos taken at Craver Farms, Hillview, Illinois).
4. The Carolyn (Kiki) Case collection of books, magazines, photos and papers now with Kiki’s niece, Susan (Haenert) Ertmer, Illinois.
5. The Polly Knoll collection of photographs (major) and papers, now with her family.
6. The Christine Massey collection of photographs (major) and papers, now with Patricia Wren, California.
7. The Mary Jane Parkinson collection of books, magazines, photographs and documents, in her possession, California.
8. The Jeannette Morrill (Bear Claw Ranch) collection, given by her granddaughter Ginger Detterman to Penny Wardlaw, California.
9. The Walter Schimanski collection of books, letters and films, given by him to Don Austin, Arkansas.
10. The Edna Weeks collection of books, magazines, documents and photographs, in her possession, Florida.

We are, of course, as stated above, tracking many collections, both major and minor.