The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center (MSRC) was founded in 1914 as the Moorland Library and became a research center within Howard University in 1973, consisting of the University Archives Division, the Manuscripts Division, Library, Museum, and the Black Press Archive. The mission of the research center is to provide access to history through diverse formats and to preserve it for generations to come.

The Liser Administration will focus on the needs of the Manuscript Division that has holdings totaling more than 18,000 linear feet, providing extensive documentation of African American life and history. Currently more than 250 collections are available for research. These collections include correspondence, oral histories, music, family records, photographs, diaries, film, scrapbooks, writings and memorabilia of Revolutionary War patriots, suffragists, veterans, notables such as Marian Anderson and Major General Oliver Otis Howard, and many more.

DCDAR has the opportunity to assist the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center Manuscript Division to improve their digitization infrastructure. High quality digitization of historic documents requires specialized equipment, and the historic research center is in need of four (4) high volume flat-bed book scanners, five (5) high quality scanners, an 8mm digital converter, and a Super 8 digital converter.

The 2024-2026 State Regent’s Project is to raise $30,000 for equipment to support digitization for the Manuscript Division of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. This project not only encompasses the missions of education, patriotism, and historic preservation but has a personal meaning to the state regent, as well. An alumnus of Howard University and  fourth generation native of the District of Columbia, the state regent has found family papers in the Manuscript Division and has used its holdings for lineage research to assist women to join DAR.