National Historical Publications and Records Commission Grant: Publishing Historical Records

Projects may focus on the papers of major figures from American life or cover broad historical movements in politics, military, business, reform movements, the arts, and other aspects of the national experience. The historical value of the records and their expected usefulness to broad audiences must justify the costs of the project.

Grants are awarded for collecting, describing, preserving, compiling, editing, and publishing documentary source materials. The NHPRC does not fund proposals to purchase historical records; it also does not fund proposals to publish the papers of anyone who has been deceased for fewer than ten years.
Eligible Activities Include:
*Scholarly documentary editions in printed and bound volumes.
*Scholarly documentary editions in online, compact disc, and other formats.
*Image editions in online, compact disc, microfilm, and other formats.
*Conversion of existing print and microfilm editions to electronic publications.
*Combinations of the above.
A publishing project that has received NHPRC support can apply for a grant for a new or subsequent stage of that project. These proposals receive special consideration to assure project continuity, provided that they have successfully completed the performance objectives associated with previous NHPRC grant awards. Proposals must be substantially updated, including a description of the new activities and a justification of the new budget. The applicant must describe how the previously-funded project met its goals.
Applicants not previously funded may apply for a grant to begin an historical documents publishing project. These applications are considered with other new proposals and will be judged by the same criteria as others in that competition. Applicants should be aware that the Commission’s practice is to give priority to previously funded projects in order to move them toward completion, and that currently, awards for new projects are rare.
Applicants may apply for funding up to three years. Applicants should be aware that the Commission normally commits funds to projects only on an annual basis. Successful applicants for multi-year projects need not reapply if their projects receive grant funding for the first year. Award amounts ordinarily range from $80,000 and $130,000 annually. The Commission expects to make up to 25 grants in this category, for a total of up to $2 million. The Commission ordinarily provides no more than 50 percent of total project costs for Publishing Historical Records projects.
Cost sharing is the financial contribution the applicant pledges to the cost of a project. Cost sharing can include both direct and indirect expenses, in-kind contributions, non-Federal third-party contributions, and any income earned directly by the project.