Publishing Historical Records in Documentary Editions | EDITIONS 201910

Opportunity Information: Apply for EDITIONS 201910

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), part of the National Archives and Records Administration, is offering grant funding to support the publication of documentary editions of historical records that help tell the American story. The program is aimed at projects that edit and publish primary source materials either around broad themes in U.S. history (such as politics, law and the social history of law, social reform, business, the military, the arts, and related areas) or around the papers of significant individuals from American history. Regardless of whether an edition is thematic or centered on a person, the NHPRC expects applicants to make a strong case that the records have clear historical value and will be useful to broad audiences, and that this public value justifies the overall cost of the work.

A central priority of the opportunity is public access paired with strong editorial scholarship. Funded projects are expected to provide not only the documents themselves, but also the editorial context that makes them understandable and usable for researchers, educators, and the general public. Applicants are expected to demonstrate that they understand and will follow recognized best practices in documentary editing, particularly the standards recommended by the Association for Documentary Editing and/or the Modern Language Association Committee on Scholarly Editions. In practice, that means proposals should reflect rigorous methods for selection, transcription, annotation, and documentation of editorial decisions, as well as consistent and transparent presentation of the materials.

For new projects, the NHPRC places a firm requirement on digital publication and preservation. Any project that has never received NHPRC funding must have definitive plans to publish and preserve a digital edition that provides online access to a searchable set of documents. Print publication is allowed as part of the plan (including ebooks and searchable PDFs), but if a project produces print volumes, the contents must also be released in a fully searchable digital edition within a reasonable time after print publication. The NHPRC also encourages free public access to the online edition. Proposals that do not present clear, concrete plans for digital dissemination and long-term digital preservation at the time of application are not eligible for consideration.

The grant can support the full range of work that goes into producing documentary editions. This includes collecting, describing, preserving, compiling, transcribing, annotating, editing, encoding, and publishing documentary source materials online and in print. While eligible projects most often focus on original manuscript or typewritten documents, the program can also support editions that incorporate other record formats, including analog audio and born-digital materials, as long as the project remains centered on documentary sources. At the same time, the NHPRC draws a clear line against funding critical editions of works that were already published, unless those published works make up only a small portion of a larger documentary project grounded in primary source records.

The program also accommodates ongoing editions that have previously received NHPRC support, but these proposals have added expectations. Continuing projects must show they met the performance objectives of prior NHPRC awards, provide updated and current project information, clearly describe the new work to be completed during the proposed grant period, identify and explain the historical significance of the specific materials that will be edited with the new funds, demonstrate progress toward completing the edition overall, and present a budget that justifies the requested support in light of that progress and the tasks ahead.

In terms of funding, awards are made for one- or two-year project periods, with a maximum of $200,000 per year. The Commission anticipated making up to 25 awards in this category, totaling up to $3,000,000. Grant-funded work supported under this announcement was expected to begin no earlier than January 1, 2020. Recipients must acknowledge NHPRC support in any resulting publications, publicity, and other products created with grant assistance.

Eligibility is limited to U.S.-based organizations, including nonprofit organizations and institutions, colleges and universities (public or private), state and local government agencies, and federally acknowledged or state-recognized Native American tribes or groups. The grant is cost-shared: NHPRC will cover no more than 50 percent of total project costs, and the applicant organization must provide the remaining share. The applicant share may include a mix of direct and indirect costs, in-kind contributions, non-federal third-party contributions, and project-generated income, but NHPRC funds themselves cannot be used for indirect costs under the program rules. If the applicant is claiming indirect costs, those must appear as part of the organization’s cost-sharing contribution rather than being charged to the federal portion.

Finally, there are standard federal administrative requirements that determine whether an application will be accepted for review. Applicant organizations must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM), keep that registration active throughout the process, and include a valid DUNS number in the application (as specified in the opportunity materials). A complete application must include required federal forms (SF-424 and SF-424B) plus a project narrative, summary, supplementary materials, and a budget. Applications that are missing required components, or that propose only activities that fall outside what NHPRC funds, are deemed ineligible and will not be reviewed.

• The National Archives and Records Administration in the humanities (see cultural affairs in cfda) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Publishing Historical Records in Documentary Editions" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 89.003.
• This funding opportunity was created on Nov 27, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Oct 03, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $200,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 25 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for EDITIONS 201910

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