Institutes for Historical Editing

FY 2023 Grant Announcement (Initial):

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 our democracy, history, and culture.

The following application information is for a grant to administer Institutes for Historical Editing.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number:   89.003

Funding Opportunity Number:   EDITING-202212

• Draft (optional):  October 1, 2022
• Final Deadline:   December 8, 2022

NHPRC support begins no earlier than July 1, 2023.

Grant Program Description

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission seeks proposals to advance inclusive participation, training, education, dialog, and collaborative exchange amongst a diverse and growing community of academic and non-academic practitioners in the editing and publishing of historical records, including the related practices of digital scholarly editing, digital ethnic studies, digital history, and digital humanities.

Applicants in this funding category must adhere to the following goals and objectives:

• Core Values: Project plans (including staffing model and planned activities) must demonstrate a commitment to fostering an inclusive, respectful, and welcoming environment, and upholding core values of collaboration, experimentation, co-creation, innovation, creativity, and diversity in all forms—practitioner, profession, practice, perspective, and method.
• Technical and Institutional Infrastructure: Must be committed to creating and sustaining an open and accessible online platform that can serve multiple purposes, including but not limited to hosting pertinent educational content, courses, discussions, and other resources and information.
• Staffing Model and Programming: Plans must include an appropriate staffing model suited to organizing and hosting a suite of regular programming that advances diverse practitioner community conversations, and provides networking opportunities, workshops, and other professional development activities.
• Promotion and Outreach: Promotional plans and outreach activities must demonstrate an ongoing commitment to engaging, listening to, and supporting a diverse and inclusive community of academic and non-academic practitioners. 
• Collaboration: Plans must include a diverse and collaborative team of core faculty and staff (including but not limited to scholar-editors, digital archivists, digital scholars, and/or data curators, as well as communications and technical support staff, as appropriate) who are knowledgeable in the practices and workflows associated with collecting, describing, preserving, compiling, transcribing, contextualizing, annotating, editing, encoding, and publishing historical records and other documentary source materials. 

We strongly encourage collaborative teams that include racially and ethnically diverse faculty and staff in key positions, and that include editorial, archival, and technical staff at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges, and/or other Indigenous and Native American tribal scholars and community members, and members of the Asian American community. Applicants are likewise encouraged to seek the input of community members as well as undergraduate and graduate students who may contribute to (and benefit from) participation in all phases of the project.

For a comprehensive list of Commission's limitations on funding, please see What We Do and Do Not Fund. Applications that consist entirely of ineligible activities will not be considered.

Award Information

A grant is for one to three years and for up to $150,000 per year. The Commission expects to make one grant in this category for a total of up to $450,000. The grant will begin no earlier than July 1, 2023.

The Commission requires that grant recipients acknowledge NHPRC grant assistance in all publications, publicity, and other products that result from its support.

Eligibility

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

In order to ensure eligibility, applicants should first review the rules and regulations governing NHPRC grants under the Administering an NHPRC Grant section. 

This program does not support requests from individuals for their own training, education, or professional advancement. Such requests will be ineligible.

Cost Sharing

The Commission may support up to the entire direct costs of the project, not including program revenue. Cost sharing, while not a requirement in this funding category, may include the program revenue, grantee's indirect costs, as well as any additional direct costs borne by the applicant. NHPRC grant recipients are not permitted to use grant funds for indirect costs (as indicated in 2 CFR 2600.101).

Other Requirements

Applicant organizations must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) prior to submitting an application, maintain SAM registration throughout the application and award process, and include a valid Unique Entity ID (UEI) in their application. To register or request a UEI, go to https://sam.gov. Already manage an entity that does business with the federal government? You may want to consult this article on the transition from DUNS to the Unique Entity ID. 

Agency Contact

Before beginning the process, applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the Acting Deputy Executive Director and Director for Publishing, Darrell Meadows (darrell.meadows@nara.gov, 202-357-5321) at the NHPRC who may: 

• Answer questions about what activities are eligible for support; 
• Advise the applicant about the review process; 
• Read and comment on a preliminary draft.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit draft materials prior to making a formal application. Draft materials may be submitted anytime up to October 1, 2022, should include a project narrative and budget, and may be sent via email to Darrell Meadows at darrell.meadows@nara.gov.

Application Information

You must use Grants.gov to submit your Proposal. All information necessary to apply is included in this announcement, the Application Instructions, and the forms on Grants.gov. If you need the information supplied in an alternative format, please call the NHPRC at 202-357-5010.

In the event that Grants.gov is experiencing technical difficulties that prevent submission, applicants must first attempt to resolve the issue with the Grants.gov Contact Center (800-518-4726). If Grants.gov cannot solve the problem, applicants must contact Jeff de la Concepcion (Jeff.delaconcepcion@nara.gov; 202-357-5022) no later than 3:00 Eastern Time on the day of the deadline with their valid Grants.gov Contact Center trouble-ticket number. Applications that fail to meet deadlines for reasons other than those noted will not be considered for funding.

Preparing Your Application

Using the Application Instructions, fill out the Standard Form 424 and the NHPRC Budget Form. 

You must also prepare a Project Narrative and Supplementary Materials to attach to your Application Package.

Project Narrative

The Project Narrative is a description of the proposal. It should be no more than 20 double-spaced pages in 12-pt type on 8.5 x 11 inch paper with standard margins.

Please organize your narrative in sections, as follows:

Overview, Purpose, and Goals: Describe the overall purpose and long-term goals of your project to Institutes for Historical Editing. Be sure to identify explicitly the diverse audiences for the respective Institutes and explain the need for this type of professional development and associated activities. Explain how the project has engaged diverse practitioners to better understand their needs, and how such engagement has shaped your organization's professional knowledge, training, experiences, and planning. Discuss how changes in publishing and access to research materials are affecting the diverse fields and practices associated with historical and scholarly editing.  Indicate how practitioners are adjusting to these changes in terms of professional training and community-building, and how these developments will shape plans for the proposed Institutes. This discussion must lead to the following details in your narrative: 

• Provide a summary description of your project’s core values, and how your curriculum and approach will meet the goals and objectives for the Institutes, as stated in the Grant Program Description above.
• Describe the program of activities, including any course(s), workshops, and other topical discussions, whether online or in-person, you plan to offer, how you arrived at this needs assessment, and how the proposed curricula will support and advance the goals of practitioners in diverse communities. 
• For any in-person meetings or activities, explain how many hours participants will meet over how many days, and discuss how you arrived at this time period. 
• Detail what teaching, training, and/or other methods you will use to make the proposed Institutes effective, applicable, inclusive, and accessible.
• For all activities, describe what steps the project will take to ensure successful recruitment of a racially, ethnically, and professionally diverse faculty and practitioners. Indicate how many faculty will be recruited and their qualifications. Provide the names and affiliations of those individuals from whom you have received both firm and tentative commitments. 

Promotion and Outreach: Describe your plans for developing and sustaining an ongoing program of promotion and outreach to diverse communities of practice, including a description of the target audiences, associations, and other practitioner communities. How will you advertise and promote your project to potential participants? Examples of any advertisements and/or other promotional materials may be provided in your supplementary materials.

Selection of Participants: Indicate whether any of the activities will involve an application or other process of selection, and if so, how prospective participants will apply and what are the respective criteria for selection? Who will make the final selection of attendees? What is your target number of participants for each of the various activities you plan to host? Include a draft application form and an evaluation matrix for each in your supplementary materials. 

Curriculum: Describe the overall program of activities, their associated learning and community-building objectives, and how each will be evaluated. For any course(s) that may be offered, what assignments will you expect participants to complete before, during, and after the period of instruction? What technologies will you use to support all of these activities?

Project Director and Preferred Qualifications: The proposed offerings should be developed and managed under the leadership of a qualified project director. Qualifications should include a record of professional collaboration across the fields of history, digital editing, digital ethnic studies, and the digital humanities; familiarity and engagement with diverse communities of practice, as well as emerging trends in digital scholarly editing, online publishing and related digital technologies. The project director must also possess the skills necessary for organizing and overseeing the administration of the Institutes, for effective community-building, and collaboration. 

Qualifications of Staff: How are each of the core faculty and project staff qualified to develop and manage the Institutes, and how are their combined strengths complementary?  Be specific about their respective expertise, including leading or developing related professional development trainings and/or courses. In your supplementary materials, include brief resumes for all named staff on the application and position announcements for any new positions to be paid for by grant funds. 

Plan of Work: In six-month increments, what is your schedule for developing and then implementing the Institutes? Provide a detailed plan of work and timeline that outlines the steps necessary to develop, advertise and run the full program of activities you are envisioning. Include a description of how the organization applying for the grant will oversee the project director.

Venues and Logistics: Where do you expect to hold the proposed Institutes? Will participants meet in person, online, or both? If meeting in person, where will participants stay and eat during the course of the respective Institutes? What fees, if any, do you expect to charge for the proposed offerings? How many and what form of scholarships will you offer? Explain what financial model will be followed to administer and sustain such activities. Explain how the selected location(s) (whether in-person or online) will increase both participation and the effectiveness of the experience for participants. If available, include descriptions of the facilities, associated platforms, and their costs in your supplementary materials.

Evaluation and Impact: What evaluation methods will you use to assess the effectiveness of the proposed activities, including assessment of your promotion and outreach plan, plans for diversity and inclusion, as well as participants' experience, faculty, platform(s) and facilities, curriculum, and teaching methodologies? For each successive year of the Institutes for Historical Editing program, the Commission expects the successful applicant to revise the structure of the Institutes as necessary, in response to participant feedback after each Institute. How will you track the longer-term impact of participants on their associated fields of practice?

Dissemination of Results: How will you share the results of the proposed program of activities with the diverse and growing community of academic and non-academic practitioners in the editing and publishing of historical records, including practitioners engaged in digital scholarly editing, digital ethnic studies, digital history, and digital humanities? What is your plan for sharing some or all of the activities, including instruction modules, and for enabling those unable to attend any online or in-person activities, to take part in the discussions, before, during, and after each Institute?  Can some of the activities, whether courses, roundtables and discussions, or targeted exercises, be posted online or can workshops be offered virtually?

Performance Objectives: List at least eight to twelve quantifiable performance objectives that will allow you and the Commission to evaluate the project following the submission of the final report.

Supplementary Materials

Submit no more than 35 pages of the following Supplementary Materials:

• Brief résumés or curriculum vitae of named staff members and Institute faculty (please use institutional addresses and phone numbers and limit to two pages per staff member)
• Statements of commitment to the project by collaborating partners
• Position descriptions for any faculty or staff to be hired with grant funds 
• Detailed work plan charts that supplement the Narrative
• Draft schedule of activities and curriculum for the Institutes, detailing the order of topics and amount of time devoted to each
• If applicable, draft application form(s) and an evaluation matrix(es) for applicant evaluation and selection 
• Descriptions of the proposed platform(s) and/or facilities and their costs
• Descriptions of the proposed technologies and their costs (if applicable)

If any of these materials are available online, please provide the URL(s). Reviewers appreciate applications with fewer supplemental pages.

Project Budget

You must submit a budget on the NHPRC Budget Form available on the Application Instructions page. Note that the form itself contains additional instructions. You may include with your application a Narrative Budget Supplement for budget categories that require further detail.  

Submission Dates and Times

• Draft (optional):   October 1, 2022
• Final Deadline:   December 8, 2022

NHPRC support begins no earlier than July 1, 2023.

Application Review Information

The NHPRC staff will acknowledge receipt of the application soon after we receive it. The following evaluation criteria and weights will be used by NHPRC staff and other reviewers to form recommendations.

Criteria for Institutes for Historical Editing

1. Ability of the project to engage and enhance the skills of a diverse and growing community of academic and non-academic practitioners in the editing and publishing of historical records, and its potential for advancing the goals of both newcomers to and experienced practitioners engaged in the related practices of digital scholarly editing, digital ethnic studies, digital history, and digital humanities. (30 percent) 

2. Ability of the project to foster and sustain essential conversations across a diverse community of practice, including but not limited to the sharing of core challenges and ethical practices, that can inform and shape future practices in the associated fields of historical and scholarly editing, digital ethnic studies, digital history, and digital humanities. (30 percent) 

3. Ability to complete and sustain the project's proposed objectives, judged by the qualifications of the staff, the reasonableness of the work plan and budget, and institutional collaborations and commitments (including cost share). (20 percent) 

4. Effectiveness of the promotional outreach and dissemination plans for achieving the project’s diversity, equity, and inclusion goals, and for sharing broadly the results of the proposed program of activities. (20 percent) 

Application Review Process

After submitting a proposal, do not discuss the pending application to the NHPRC with any Member of the Commission. Commission members must ensure fair and equitable treatment of all applications and do not discuss proposals with individual applicants.

• Peer Reviewers 

We will ask 5 to 7 external peer reviewers to evaluate the proposal.

• Commission Staff 

Approximately 3 months after the submission deadline, we will send to the Project Director anonymous copies of reviewers' comments along with specific questions from the Commission staff. Applicants have an opportunity to answer the reviewers and Commission staff’s questions and comments.

• The Commission 

After reviewing proposals, reviewers’ comments, the applicants' responses, and evaluations by the Commission staff, the Commission members deliberate and make funding recommendations to the Archivist of the United States, who has final statutory authority and selects award recipients. Throughout this process, all members of the Commission and its staff follow conflict-of-interest rules to assure fair and equal treatment of every application.

Award Administration Information

Notification

Grants are contingent upon available appropriated funds. In some cases, the Commission will adjust grant amounts depending upon the number of recommended proposals and total budget. The Commission may recommend that the Archivist approve the proposal and extend an offer of a grant with applicable terms and conditions, or it may recommend rejection of the proposal. 

Grant applicants will be notified within two weeks after the Archivist's decision.

Successful applicants will receive an informal offer of award outlining the steps that must be accomplished to qualify for funding. Those steps include verification of their acceptance of general terms and conditions, completion of a survey on their Financial Capability and Accounting Systems, and finalization of performance objectives for their project. Once all requested documentation is received, reviewed and acceptable, the NHPRC will issue an official award notice.

For awards that meet or exceed the Federal government’s simplified acquisition threshold (currently $150,000), NHPRC staff will first review and consider any information about the applicant that appears in the designated integrity and performance system. This information is accessible through SAM (currently FAPIIS) (see 41 U.S.C. 2313). After this review, NHPRC staff will follow the procedures in 2 CFR 200, subpart F, Appendix I, part e.3.

Administrative Requirements

In order to ensure that you can manage a grant, applicants should review the Federal grant administration rules and regulations governing grants from the NHPRC listed in the Administering an NHPRC Grant section.

Reporting

In most cases, award recipients will report on their performance in narrative reports every six months and submit financial reports once a year.