Fortepan US is a networked cooperative portal that supports the preservation, sharing, viewing, and use of family and local historical photographs from the United States. Drawing upon the power of place, the Fortepan US  platform encourages family contributors and cultural heritage  institutions within a single U.S. state or other entity (like an  Indigenous territory or U.S. national park) to join digital forces and  unite the historical photographs/cultural artifacts in their holdings  through a single interface.This “digital first” platform inspires cultural heritage institutions to rethink digital archiving  practices by making local historical documents more accessible. Our inspiration (and name) comes from the Fortepan project based in Hungary.