Hmong Keeb Kwm: The Hmong Heritage Project

About the Program

Category: Arts, Culture and Historic Preservation (Best in Category)

Year: 2022

The Catawba County Library worked with the Hmong community, the Historical Association and Digital Heritage NC to collect, curate, and preserve a digital collection of the twentieth-century history of Hmong migration and community-building within the region. Hmong individuals and families were invited to share their experiences, cultural heritage and artifacts, allowing the library to preserve them and make them accessible online for everyone including future generations. Hmong Keeb Kwm: Hmong Heritage included several cultural events, sharing and celebrating the traditional music, food, dance, and literature of the Hmong culture. This project helped the library strengthen and build community through collaboration and partnerships with the Hmong citizens and other organizing institutions. It provided a platform for the library to deliver high-quality, lifelong learning opportunities that support growth for diverse community populations. It demonstrated respect for the Hmong culture and promoted awareness and understanding through the collected items and cultural programs. The Historical Association was able to increase the authentic representation of a previously underrepresented segment of our population and able to better document Hmong migration for use in future exhibitions and programming.