National Archives and Records Administration: Publishing Historical Records in Documentary Editions

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) of the National Archives supports projects that promote access to America’s historical records to encourage understanding of the nation’s democracy, history, and culture.

The NHPRC seeks proposals to publish documentary editions of historical records. Projects may focus on broad historical movements in U.S. history, such as politics, law (including the social and cultural history of the law), social reform, business, military, the arts, and other aspects of the national experience, or may be centered on the papers of major figures from American history. Whether conceived as a thematic or a biographical edition, the historical value of the records and their expected usefulness to broad audiences must justify the costs of the project. The NHPRC is especially interested in projects to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It encourages applications that use collections to examine the ideals behind the founding of the United States and the continual interpretation and debate over those ideals over the past 250 years. It welcomes projects that engage the public, expand civic education, and promote understanding of the nation’s history, democracy, and culture from the founding era to the present day.

The goal of this program is to provide access to, and editorial context for, the historical documents and records that tell the American story. Applicants should demonstrate familiarity with the best practices recommended by the Association for Documentary Editing or the Modern Language Association Committee on Scholarly Editions. All new projects (those which have never received NHPRC funding) must have definitive plans for publishing and preserving a digital edition which provides online access to a searchable, fully-transcribed, and annotated collection of documents. New projects may also prepare print editions (including ebooks and searchable PDFs posted online) as part of their overall publishing plan, but the contents of those volumes must be published in a fully-searchable digital edition within a reasonable period of time following print publication. The NHPRC encourages projects to provide free public access to online editions.

Ongoing projects: Applicants from ongoing projects must demonstrate that they have successfully achieved the performance objectives associated with previous NHPRC awards; provide updated, current information, including a description of the new activities; describe the content and historical significance of the specific materials to be edited during the proposed grant period; show progress towards completing the edition; and justify costs in a new budget.

Amount: Approximately $3,000,000 is available to make up to 25 awards of up to $175,000 each for a period of one year.

Eligibility: U.S. nonprofit organizations or institutions; U.S. colleges, universities, and other academic institutions; state or local government agencies; and Federally-acknowledged or state-recognized Native American tribes or groups.

Link: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=322941

Note: There is an optional draft deadline of April 1, 2020.

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