Researchers at UCLA have received a $3.65 million grant to gather, organize, and preserve digitally a substantial collection of materials concerning policing practices and widespread imprisonment. This resource is anticipated to be beneficial for both historians and anthropologists, but fundamentally, it will create a comprehensive record of a period some prefer to overlook.

Leading the “Archiving the Age of Mass Incarceration” initiative is Kelly Lytle Hernandez, who directs the Bunche Center for African American Studies at the university and founded Million Dollar Hoods, a separate undertaking focused on detailing the societal consequences of incarceration within Los Angeles. The funding for this project is being provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Lytle Hernandez conveyed to me that we might be at a pivotal moment in American history—potentially establishing a new course. She referenced the significant events of 2020 as a time of both upheaval and potential positive change. “If that is the case,” she stated, “it is crucial that we preserve an account of what transpired. Our aim is to safeguard the records, memories, and experiences of individuals impacted by mass incarceration, along with, whenever feasible, official records that might otherwise be lost.”

The foundation of this collection will consist of documents provided to Lytle Hernandez by the LAPD as part of a 2019 agreement (following her receipt of a MacArthur fellowship) concerning public disclosure and communication. She characterized this as approximately 177 boxes of paper records from the 1980s through the early 2000s, detailing the “war on drugs,” policing of immigrant communities, and numerous other subjects, with further materials expected under the terms of the agreement with the department.

The intention is to “balance” these official records, as she explained, with documentation and accounts from those directly affected.

“Individuals who are disproportionately subjected to incarceration or arrest often experience the loss of their own records due to eviction, the seizure of belongings when they cannot afford storage fees, or confiscation during arrest,” she clarified. “If we are to address generations of harm, we must understand where that harm occurred and who it impacted. I view this archival project as a component of that restorative process.”

Over the coming years, Lytle Hernandez will oversee the assembly of the archive, which will involve conventional tasks like scanning and cataloging paper documents, as well as engaging with communities to collect “carceral ephemera”—such as bail bond receipts (which may be the sole remaining evidence of an individual’s encounter with the legal system)—and personal narratives and media.

Obtaining records from law enforcement and governmental bodies can be a challenging and sometimes legally or politically sensitive undertaking. She emphasized the importance of securing as much information as possible, from a wide range of sources, and doing so promptly. She noted that other critical junctures in the pursuit of racial justice have been inadequately documented, due to both negligence and intentional omissions.

“Consider what we could know about enslavement and its impact on all of us, and its role in the formation of this nation, if we had interviewed those who lived through it—what a comprehensive archive that would have provided, to help us understand and move beyond its legacies,” Lytle Hernandez said. “However, we have been able to diminish the significance and lasting effects of slavery because we did not adequately document it. The same holds true for the displacement of Native Americans, internment, and immigration.”

She believes there is now an opportunity—across the country, not solely in Los Angeles—to do the same for the era of mass incarceration. Furthermore, they can utilize contemporary methods that were unavailable during, for example, the Civil Rights movement.

Her work with Million Dollar Hoods has demonstrated a strong desire within historically marginalized communities to challenge existing narratives and utilize data to advocate for change.

“Our meetings are consistently filled with Black and Brown students, often overflowing into the hallway, eager to learn data analysis and data science,” she said. “A key aspect of this project is opening doors to these opportunities. When individuals most affected are involved, they interpret data differently—they identify different patterns and stories.”

The archive will be accessible to the public, although the precise nature of the documents included and how they will be organized and described is still under development. Regardless of the specific details, this archive is expected to be an invaluable resource for students, researchers, and the general public for years to come as the changes Lytle Hernandez envisions begin to take shape.