August 18, 2010... Trident Technical College has received a $46,047 planning grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to establish a Lowcountry Foodways Project. The project will document the African, Caribbean, English, French, and Native American roots of the region’s food-related traditions.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s museums and libraries. The IMLS received 62 National Leadership Collaborative Planning Grant applications this year and made 13 awards. TTC was the only college in South Carolina and the only two-year college in the country to receive an award.

Rapid regional, environmental and demographic changes threaten the cultural traditions and memory of the Lowcountry area between Wilmington, N.C. and Jacksonville, Fla. To respond to these threats, TTC will partner with the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture to develop a fieldwork plan to collect foodways oral histories, identify and assess relevant archival collections of primary sources, and build a database of materials suitable for digitization in an anticipated future project.

“Everyone loves food, particularly Southerners,” said TTC librarian Laura Barfield, who will serve as the project’s director. “The Lowcountry Foodways project will be the first culinary collection to focus exclusively on Lowcountry culinary history. The project will culminate with an interactive digital resource that serves the needs of both town and gown. Along with scholarly research, community involvement is key to the success of this project and we will tap into the food memories and collections of our most valuable resource, the wonderful people of the Lowcountry, who have a unique multicultural heritage that has shaped the food traditions of this region.”