Latin American and Caribbean Indigenous Languages at the JCB

A digital project reshaping data curation standards for Indigenous materials

During my CLIR Postdoctoral Fellowship at the John Carter Brown Library, Brown University (2019-2020), I developed this pioneering digital project that revolutionized how Indigenous language materials at the JCB are catalogued, preserved, and accessed. This initiative established new standards for data curation of Indigenous materials and tried to represent a landmark collaboration between academic institutions and Indigenous communities.

Left: Geographic origin of a 16th-century religious book featuring Andean Indigenous languages published in Lima, Peru, in 1584. Right: An amazing capture of the Juan de Tovar's codex conserved at the John Carter Brown Library.

Project Overview

This comprehensive digital initiative catalogued and digitized hundreds of historical documents containing Indigenous languages from Latin America and the Caribbean, spanning from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The project was developed in close collaboration with Indigenous scholars to ensure the use of ethical and culturally appropriate data curation practices.

Community workshops brought together Indigenous scholars, linguists, and JCB researchers to develop culturally responsive metadata standards.

Key Innovations

Decolonizing Data Curation: The project fundamentally challenged traditional archival practices by centering Indigenous perspectives in how materials are described, categorized, and accessed. Working directly with Indigenous scholars, we developed new metadata standards that respect Indigenous epistemologies and naming conventions.

Multilingual Access: Created search interfaces in multiple languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, English, and several Indigenous languages, making these materials accessible to broader communities.

Community Collaboration: Established ongoing partnerships with Indigenous communities to ensure their voices guide how their ancestral languages are preserved and shared.

The project culminated in the "Paper Worlds of Native Voices" exhibition and generated extensive educational materials for workshops on Indigenous languages (left and right).

Impact and Legacy

The project has had far-reaching impact on digital humanities practices globally:

  • International Standards: The metadata frameworks developed have been adopted by other institutions working with Indigenous materials
  • Educational Resources: Created workshops and exhibitions that have reached thousands of students and researchers
  • Community Empowerment: Provided Indigenous communities with digital tools to access and preserve their linguistic heritage
  • Scholarly Innovation: Generated new methodologies for ethical digital curation that have influenced academic practices worldwide

Technical Specifications

  • Digitization: High-resolution imaging with OCR for colonial manuscripts
  • Access: Open-access platform with a geolocalization tool integrated into the Google Earth platform

Project Link: Access the Digital Collection

This project represents a fundamental shift toward decolonizing digital humanities practices and demonstrates how technology can serve academic and Indigenous communities in preserving and revitalizing their cultural heritage. The methodologies developed continue to influence digital curation practices globally, establishing new ethical standards for working with Indigenous materials in academic settings.

References