Buffalo is becoming a living archive. The Smithsonian Institution's Center for the Digitization and Curation of African American History has partnered with the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor to launch Community Curation 2026, a sweeping initiative designed to preserve and celebrate Black history in Buffalo and beyond—one home video, one audio tape, one family memory at a time.
The project arrives at a moment when countless African American families hold decades of irreplaceable footage gathering dust in attics and basements: home movies, family videos, oral histories, and audio recordings that capture the texture of community life, celebrations, struggles, and triumphs that rarely make it into official historical records. Without intervention, these stories risk disappearing entirely. Community Curation 2026 addresses this directly by offering something radical and free: a way for ordinary people to digitize their family archives and ensure those memories survive for future generations.
The initiative is anchored by a home media digitization program running throughout spring and early summer at the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor, located at 136 Broadway in Buffalo. On May 16, May 23, June 6, and June 13, community members can drop off home movies, videos, and audio tapes from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The goal extends beyond simple technical conversion. By bringing digitization directly into the community—rather than requiring families to navigate distant institutions—organizers aim to bridge the generational digital divide while simultaneously building a shared repository of local history. It's preservation work rooted in respect for the people who lived these stories.
The partnership between the Smithsonian's Center, part of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., and the Michigan Street Heritage Corridor reflects a broader shift in how major institutions approach historical documentation. Rather than experts deciding what matters, Community Curation 2026 trusts community members themselves as historians and archivists of their own narratives. The initiative recognizes that African American history in Buffalo—the migrations, the businesses, the churches, the social movements, the everyday joys and sorrows—belongs first and foremost to the people who lived it.
Beyond digitization, Community Curation 2026 is rolling out a series of free events through June that celebrate and preserve Black history in Buffalo and the wider region. These gatherings create space for conversation, connection, and collective remembrance at a moment when deliberate efforts to preserve African American cultural heritage feel urgent and necessary.
For families wondering if their home videos matter enough to preserve, the answer from these institutions is unambiguous: yes. The grainy footage of a grandmother's birthday party, the audio recording of an uncle's stories, the family reunion video from 1987—these documents are as vital to history as any museum artifact. They're evidence of life lived, resilience practiced, community built.
Buffalo residents interested in participating can find more information through the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor. For anyone holding family media they've thought about preserving, the next step is straightforward: bring it in on one of those four dates this spring, and help ensure that African American history in Buffalo remains alive, visible, and whole.