About
The Inside Books Project (IBP) is a books-to-prisons collective founded in 1998 in Austin, Texas. IBP receives approximately 2,000 requests for books a month from people incarcerated throughout Texas, and volunteers respond with hand-selected books and resources to meet their needs.
Incarcerated patrons often send art, poetry, essays, prose, crafts, and other narrative materials as a thank-you for the free books. The IBP Archive was established in 2015 as an initiative to save, preserve, and share these donations with the public through web-publishing, as they are primary sources on the experiences, humanity, and artistic expression of those most impacted by mass incarceration in the U.S. today.
In addition to incarcerated people's submissions, the archive also includes Inside Book Project's past newsletters, zines, event flyers, and photos of the collective from 1998 to present. Another collection in the archive is book denial documents from prison mail-rooms (forms sent to us when books or resources we sent are banned and destroyed) which preserves important historical evidence of censorship practices in the U.S.
The IBP Archive needs funding to continue preserving and sharing these important records, testimonies, and works of art. All donations go towards preservation (mostly acid-free folders and boxes from archives suppliers), web-publishing, technical resources (hopefully a new scanner!), publications, art shows, and postage costs (communications with the prison advisory committee). Long-term goals include stipends for labor and trainings (specifically for formerly incarcerated volunteers), research projects, community work-shops on archives and memory-work, and visits to incarcerated advisory committee members.
To donate to the archive project please visit: www.patreon.com/ibparchive
Want to learn more about the project and volunteer opportunities? email insidebooksarchive@gmail.com