Grant Details

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission seeks projects that encourage public engagement with historical records, including the development of new tools that enable people to engage online. The NHPRC is looking for projects that create models and technologies that other institutions can freely adopt. In general, collaborations among archivists, documentary editors, historians, educators, and/or community-based individuals are more likely to create a competitive proposal.

Projects that center the voices and document the history of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color are especially welcome. In addition, with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence approaching, the Commission is interested in projects that promote discovery and access to collections that explore the ideals behind our nation's founding and the continuous debate over those ideals to the present day. 

Projects might create and develop programs to engage people in the study and use of historical records for institutional, educational or personal reasons. For example, an applicant can:

• Enlist volunteer "citizen archivists" in projects to accelerate access to historical records, especially those online. This may include, but is not limited to, efforts to identify, tag, transcribe, annotate, or otherwise enhance digitized historical records.
• Develop educational programs for K-12 students, undergraduate classes, or community members that encourage them to engage with historical records already in repositories or that are collected as part of the project.
• Collect primary source material from people through public gatherings and sponsor discussions or websites about the results.
• Use historical records in artistic endeavors. This could include K-12 students, undergraduate classes, or community members. Examples include projects that encourage researching and writing life stories for performance; using record facsimiles in painting, sculpture, or audiovisual collages; or using text as lyrics for music or as music.
• Develop technologies that encourage the sharing of information about historical records.

As part of its funding restrictions, the Commission has deemed ineligible those projects in which:

• a major portion of the processed documents will be kept closed to researchers for more than five years,
• documents are not accessible to all qualified users on equal terms,
• it is the repository's policy to deny public access, or
• a repository charges fees for making available the materials in its holdings. However, reasonable fees may be charged for copying material or providing special services or facilities not provided to all researchers.