An online campaign is trying to raise $5,000 to digitize the San Diego State University Library’s Chicana & Chicano Archive Project.

Save Our History: The Chicana!o Archive Project launched on July 21st on Indiegogo.com with the goal of raising the total amount needed to make the archives available online. The campaign ends on September 19th.

The money will allow the digitization of the Chicana & Chicano Archive Project, which has the goal of compiling one of the most diverse and vast collections of documents, videos, and audio recordings, on local Chicano and Mexican history in San Diego, according to Richard Griswold del Castillo, a retired professor of history at SDSU and one of the founders of the archives.

“It’s about preserving the history of a people who in the past have not been given a voice in America in general, and in San Diego in particular,” Griswold del Castillo said. “We’re trying to preserve this for future students and others.

These are resources that will present a truthful and accurate portrait, analysis of Chicanos and Mexicans in San Diego. It’s about giving our people access to the truth.”

Among the documents included in the archives are unique collections from some of San Diego’s most active Chicanos, including the late SDSU professor Rene Nunez and educator and philanthropist Gracia Molina de Pick, who contributed $1,000 to the project.

It also includes rare audio and film material, such as the Michael Ornelas Historical Audio Video Collection and the Chicano Moratorium Film Collection.

For five years, Griswold del Castillo and his wife Rita Sanchez, a retired professor from San Diego Mesa College, have been working hard with a committee collecting the archives.

“This is a collection of personal papers, documents, photos, and media gathered by people who have been active in the struggles of the 1970s,” wrote Griswold del Castillo in the online campaign description. “We have worked to build an important archive collection, one that will benefit present and future students and community members who want to tell the story of how Chicanas and Chicanos have sought to improve their lives here in the San Diego border region.”

The University of California, San Diego, also houses a large Chicano history archive. Although smaller, the SDSU archives have a special emphasis on Chicana history and issues.

“Chicanas in San Diego who have contributed their lives for the betterment of others have a story to tell,” Sanchez said last year during an event at the Centro Cultural de la Raza celebrating the women who have made a difference in the community. “Their stories are important and need to be preserved. Each story adds something new.”

Griswold del Castillo said that San Diego State University’s Love Library has been a strong supporter of the project and houses the archives. The library’s Department of Special Collections and Archives will complete the digitization process, but it doesn’t have the funds to do it.

“We don’t really have the resources, that’s why we’re doing this online campaign,” said Robert C. Ray, head of SDSU Special Collections & University Archives. “The public needs to understand how important it is to make these archives available to as many people as possible so that the Chicano community in San Diego can better understand itself, where it’s been, where it is right now.”

So far, the online fundraiser is still trying to reach its goal of $5,000. Griswold del Castillo said that if the goal is not reached by the September 19th deadline, the committee will use the raised funds to digitize the most important parts of the collection, mainly audiovisual material, since that is the most at-risk of being damaged.

“Your contribution will make a difference in thousands of people’s lives, students in colleges and high schools as well as those seeking information about the Chicano movement around the world,” Griswold del Castillo said.

You can access part of the SDSU Chicana & Chicano Archive Project already available online at http://rgriswol.wix.com/chicanoarchive.