Maria Cabrera Arús on Archive of Cuban Socialism

An interview with Maria Cabrera Arús, Assistant Professor of the History of Science, Gallatin School

11/21/2022

  Jo Suk

portrait of Dr. Maria Cabrera Arús

The DH Seed Grant Spotlights highlight work supported by the NYU DH Seed Grants. Over the next several posts we will feature the work of the 2021-2022 cohort of faculty grant recipients.

Dr. Cabrera Arús was selected for a 2021-2022 NYU DH Seed Grant for her project “Archive of Cuban Socialism (ArchCuS)”.

Below, Digital Scholarship Graduate Student Specialist Jo Suk interviews Dr. Cabrera Arús.

What are you most proud of about your project? How have people in your field engaged with your project?

M.C.A. Having created the first (and only) online repository of Cuban material culture from the revolutionary/socialist era (1959-1989) brings me satisfaction, especially because of the lack of public access to archives in Cuba and the government censorship. Cubanists, especially historians, have welcomed the project, and some have used the information already available online as a primary source in their research projects.

What Digital Humanities skills or resources helped you most with your project?

M.C.A. The expertise of the NYU DH team and the cataloging software I bought.

Did you apply for any other grants?

M.C.A. I was very fortunate to count with the support of NYU Art & Science Office of Research which helped me put together a NEH grant application. Results will be announced in April 2023.

How, if at all, do you plan to build upon your project going forward?

M.C.A. I will continue seeking grants to fund the digitalization, conservation, and preservation of the thousands of items in the collections (of which only a few are currently available in the online platform), as well as expanding the collection itself through donations and acquisitions.


Read more about the Archive of Cuban Socialism.

The DH Seed Grants are administered and funded by NYU Libraries, the Center for the Humanities, and NYU Research and Instructional Technology. The goal of the program is to sponsor the initial development of projects that may go on to receive greater funding from external sources or otherwise build NYU’s institutional capacity in Digital Humanities work. We especially welcome projects that give voice or expression to underrepresented communities and that engage with the urban fabric of the cities in which NYU has campuses.

You can also read more about the NYU DH Seed Grant program and keep an eye out for our call for proposals for the 2023-2024 cohort in December.