PUBLISHING HISTORICAL RECORDS IN COLLABORATIVE DITIGAL EDITIONS

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) is currently accepting applications to fund online historical records publications. The project focuses on publishing all forms of historical records, such as documents, photographs, born-digital records, and analog audio, to provide a more comprehensive understanding of U.S. history. The NHPRC encourages projects that explore aspects of African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Native American history across various disciplines ranging from law, politics, business, military, the arts, and other aspects of the national experience.

Emphasis is given to projects that highlight the voices and history of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), and those that shed light on the nation’s founding features and the ongoing debates around these principles. It also seeks to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, promoting access to collections related to it.

The NHPRC aims to offer access to these records, complete with editorial context, to enrich the American historical narrative. Applicants should adhere to the best practices recommended by the Association for Documentary Editing or the Modern Language Association Committee on Scholarly Editions. Grants do not cover the preparation of critical editions of published works (unless it is a small part of the project) or the production of film or video documentaries.

New projects seeking sponsorship from the NHPRC must demonstrate definitive plans for publishing and preserving a digital edition of their works. These publications should be fully transcribed, annotated, and searchable. Proposals offering free public access are preferred, but print editions are also allowed under the condition that they will also be available digitally. Collaboration is strongly encouraged, particularly involving BIPOC faculty and staff in historically black colleges, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribal colleges, and other institutions.

To renew funding in this grant category, applicants should show they have met the performance objectives from their previous NHPRC awards and provide updated information, historical significance and progress of the materials to be edited, and justify costs in a new budget. Fund renewal is limited to a total of 10 years, starting from any funds awarded since FY 2022.

Each successful application receives one grant up to $125,000 per year, provided, in total, to roughly 28 recipients. Grants start no earlier than January 1, 2025. All publications funded by these grants must acknowledge NHPRC's support.

Eligible to apply includes U.S. nonprofit organizations or institutions, colleges, universities, state or local government agencies, federally-acknowledged or state-recognized Native American tribes or groups. Coupled with the NHPRC’s contributions, the accepted organizations will also be required to contribute financially to the project.

Prospective applicants must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) and hold a valid Unique Entity ID. Registrations and passwords for SAM.gov and Grants.gov need to be valid and may take up to a month to set up or renew. The NHPRC will not grant deadline extensions due to registration issues.