With funding from the Meadows Foundation and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, Documentary Arts hired a full-time archivist to process the TAAP Archive's collection. Processing and cataloging of the collection will make it useful and accessible to the public. The photographic images in the collections will be systematically arranged and described at the collection and series level using established standards. Subject headings will be assigned using terms from the Graphic Materials Thesaurus and Descriptive Terms for Graphic Materials (1996).

A folder level inventory will be produced for each collection. The project archivist will write narrative descriptions of the collection, including scope and content notes. These preservation measures will help to extend the life of these primary source materials. Governed by recommended procedures and nationally-accepted standards, the preservation component of the project will place each photograph in an appropriate protective enclosure and provide archivally acceptable storage containers for groups of photographs. Thus a valuable body of unique photographic records will have been maintained for public use and a systematic program for maintaining future photographic accessions established.

Documentary Arts has established an internship program to involve students in the preservation of the TAAP Archive's collection. With funding from the Meadows Foundation, Documentary Arts has structured the internship program in association with the Texas Association of Developing Colleges (TADC). The TADC is a consortium representing historically black colleges in the state and includes Texas College (Tyler), Wiley College (Marshall), Jarvis College (Hawkins), Paul Quinn College (Dallas), and Huston-Tillotson College (Austin). Student interns from these colleges will participate in the preservation of the TAAP Archive by working with a professional archivist at Documentary Arts and also with the African American Museum in Dallas. Documentary Arts and the African American Museum, which have had a long-standing working relationship, are both committed to making the TAAP Archive accessible to the public through a series of independent exhibitions over the next decade.