National Historical Publications and Records Commission: Digitizing Historical Records

To make these projects as widely useful as possible for archives, historical repositories, and researchers, the applications must demonstrate:

1. The national significance of the collections or records series to be digitized;
2. An effective work flow that repurposes existing descriptive material, rather than creating new metadata about the records;
3. Reasonable costs and standards for the project as well as sustainable preservation plans for the resulting digital records;
4. Well-designed plans that evaluate the use of the digitized materials and the effectiveness of the methods employed in digitizing and displaying the materials.
Projects may not use grant funds to create descriptive metadata or edited transcriptions of the digitized materials.
Award Information:
A grant normally is for 1 to 3 years and up to $150,000. The Commission expects to make up to 5 grants in this category, for a total of up to $400,000.

Cost Sharing:
Cost sharing is required. It 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. The NHPRC will provide up to 50 percent of the total project costs.

Before beginning the process, applicants should review full grant announcement (linked below) and the rules and regulations governing NHPRC grants under the Administering an NHPRC Grant section.