NHPRC Awards
November 2024
MAJOR INITIATIVES
For projects that will significantly improve public discovery and use of major historical records collections.
Washington College
Easton, MD
$338,860 to support a three-year project to digitize, create descriptive metadata, and make available via the Chesapeake Heartland Digital Archive approximately 1,500 pages and photographs documenting Black heritage on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay from three non-local partners, and another 3,000 held by, or collected from, the community. (RM-104958)
University of Maine System
Orono, ME
$174,519 to support a two-year project of the Franco American Collections Consortium (University of Maine, University of Maine at Fort Kent, University of Southern Maine, Assumption University, and St. Anselm College) to digitize, or harvest, approximately 2,000 photographs, 458 hours of oral histories, 13,000 pages of newsletters and cultural publications, and 62,000 pages of personal, family, and organizational records that document the French-Canadian and Acadian diaspora from 89 collections held at 13 repositories, which will be made available through the Franco American Digital Archives. (RM-104823)
ARCHIVES COLLABORATIVES
For projects to plan and develop a working collaborative designed to enhance the capacity of small and diverse organizations with historical records collections.
Planning Grants
Highlander Research and Education Center
New Market, TN
$25,000 to support a planning grant to develop—in partnership with Solidarity History Initiative, Georgia Dusk, and other community archives—a Southern memory workers’ collaborative program implementation plan that will support the growth of community archive efforts across the south. Highlander Center and five partners will serve as a committee of community archives and memory practitioners representing various parts of the South and Appalachia and will guide research and planning in this process. The project aims to document, preserve, and make publicly accessible the rich but underrepresented history of Southern Social Movements, especially those movements led by Black, Indigenous, Latino/a/e, Asian/Asian-American, immigrant, poor, working class, LGBTQ+, and disabled individuals and communities. (RJ-104959)
Dance/USA
Washington, DC
$25,000 to support a one-year planning project to develop a flexible and scalable planning document for increasing public access to dance heritage digital archives. A collaboration among Dance/USA and three dance companies which represent traditional, cultural, and contemporary dance forms —LEIMAY, TéMaTé Institute for Black Dance and Culture, and Charya Burt Cambodian Dance—the project collaborators will produce a report outlining strategies to increase engagement and access to the respective historical records of these organizations. (RJ-104838)
Implementation Grants
New York Folklore Society, Inc.
Schenectady, NY
$64,414 to support the implementation of its NHPRC planning grant for a collaborative which includes the collections of the Arts Westchester, Arts Mid-Hudson, New York Folklore, Catskills Folk Connection, the Schoharie County Historical Society, Glow Traditions (western New York), Traditional Arts of Upstate New York, City Lore, and Long Island Traditions. In aggregate, the collections are 600 cubic feet of documents, approximately 2,500 hours of recorded material (moving images and audio), and 35 feet of photography and slides. The objectives for this grant are to develop and implement protocols for processing, Dublin Core-based description, and long-term preservation for digital materials, as well as guidelines and policies for culturally sensitive collections access, and remote and in-person training to support implementation. All products will be made available on the New York Folklore website as a manual for folklife collections in New York State. ( RJ-104940)
Association of Moving Image Archivists
Hollywood, CA
$99,700 to support the Community Archiving Workshop, a program of the Association of Moving Archivists in partnership with WiLS (formerly Wisconsin Library Services) and four cultural heritage organizations serving as organizational partners. Each organizational partner will be paired with a mentor to develop and implement a detailed digital readiness preservation project. The four cultural heritage organizations are: 1) Chickaloon Village Traditional Council, Alpine, AK; 2) Pittsburgh Queer History Project, Pittsburgh, PA; 3) Lāna’i Culture & Heritage Center, Lāna’i City, HI; and 4) New Orleans Video Access Center, New Orleans, LA. The project will establish a Community of Practice in which organizational partners engage in peer-to-peer learning and identify areas for resource sharing. Each organization’s project will be documented as a case study, to be included in the Digital Readiness Toolkit, and will be available for use as a model for other organizations seeking a pathway to digital readiness. (RJ-104949)
Blacklidge Community Collective
Tucson, AZ
$100,000 to support a project to develop an “Archives Commune” that creates publicly accessible resources for transformative memory practices both in their local community and in the greater field of memory and archives. Partner organizations include: 1) Archive in a Forest, 2) Perilous Chronicle, 3) Jewish Zine Archive, 4) Arizona Queer Archives, and 5) Inside Books Project Archive. Through a nascent “Archives Commune,” they have striven to curate shared resources, knowledge, and community history. Project objectives include a collaborative website, archives gathering, resource tools, and workshops. Publicity will include events, exhibits, conference attendance, hosted gatherings, online publications, and social media announcements. (RJ-104950)
Urban Archive, Inc.
Brooklyn, NY
$100,000 to support the fourth phase of the development and implementation of its Collections Management and Engagement Program (CMEP), which has provided a diverse network of cultural organizations across New York State with a location-based digital platform and collection management system since 2020. Urban Archives will expand the capabilities of CMEP to give partners the ability to host multiple projects; provide new geographic features to enable users to access content via specific neighborhoods; expand features to include dynamic walking tours with audio/video capabilities; increase visibility of NYC collections to the public; and expand the reach of CMEP beyond New York State to partners in Chicago, Mississippi, and those with national reach. They will also partner with Link NYC which displays collections via kiosks throughout NYC. (RJ-104892)
Efforts of Grace, Inc.
New Orleans, LA
$100,000 to support, on behalf of the Alliance for Cultural Equity, a collaborative of community museum and archive organizations committed to making their collections more readily available for public discovery and use. ACE is a multi-pronged, culture-informed, equity-driven initiative that places artists, culture bearers, and community institutions at the center of their fight for social justice and change. The collaborative has created a community-driven and participatory model for cultural research and implementation planning to advance interests of small museums and community-based archives in New Orleans and serves as a model for such entities in other communities. (RJ-104953)
STATE BOARDS
For projects that strengthen the nation's archival network through activities undertaken by state historical records advisory boards.
American Samoa Historic Preservation Office
Pago Pago, AS
$50,000 to support the American Samoa Historical Records Advisory Board for a two-year award period. The grant would support numerous activities to reactivate and revitalize ASHRAB’s operations, including costs for travel, planning, and support staff. (RC-104946)
Colorado Historical Records Advisory Board
Denver, CO
$39,596 to support a regranting program, workshops, a traveling archivist, a local fellowship program, and travel. (RC-104820)
Idaho State Historical Society
Boise, ID
$18,025 to support the Idaho State Historical Records Advisory Board, including a regranting program of at least five subawards of up to $3,000. (RC-104832)
Illinois State Archives
Springfield, IL
$80,000 to support the Illinois State Historical Records Advisory Board for two years, including two cycles of the Board’s annual regranting competition for smaller repositories, professional development opportunities for local archivists, and the Board’s organizational costs. (RC-104835)
Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth
Boston, MA
$80,000 to support the Massachusetts State Historical Records Advisory Board for a two-year award period. The grant would support a roving archivist, a mentoring program, the Board’s Archival Field Fellowship program, and statewide history conferences. (RC-104939)
Nevada State Library, Archives and Public Records
Carson City, NV
$79,754 to support the Nevada State Historical Records Advisory Board for two years of programming, including the hiring of an archival consultant, Board travel, and administrative costs. (RC-104944)
North Dakota State Historical Society
Bismarck, ND
$19,000 to support the North Dakota State Historical Records Advisory Board scholarships to emerging professionals and travel costs. (RC-104840)
Ohio Historical Society
Columbus, OH
$80,000 to support the Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board for two years of programming, including regranting to smaller institutions, a fellowship program,scholarships, and outreach and publicity activities. (RC-104815)
Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation
Harrisburg, PA
$13,495 to support the Pennsylvania State Historical Records Advisory Board annual developmental program for archivists, a Board-run professional development and training program, and Community History Dialogs program. (RC-104833)
Rhode Island Department of State
Providence, RI
$12,000 to support the Rhode Island Historical Records Advisory Board Service Days program, a one-day consultation service for small repositories, and educational workshops for records custodians. (RC-104830)
South Dakota Department of Education
Pierre, SD
$15,000 to support the South Dakota State Historical Records Advisory Boards program for professional development scholarships, workshop costs, and publicity expenses. (RC-104831)
Tennessee State Library and Archives
Nashville, TN
$80,000 to support the Tennessee Historical Records Advisory Board for two years of programming: two cycles of a regranting program; the Tennessee Archives Institute, a professional development program for archivists and records managers; and administrative costs. (RC-104829)
Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Austin, TX
$40,000 to support the Texas Historical Records Advisory Board program for professional development, a fellowship opportunity, outreach and administrative costs, and educational content for the U.S. sesquicentennial. The Board will also coordinate a mentoring program for Texas repository staff who participate in Texas Archival Resources Online, a free platform for hosting finding aids. (RC-104825)
Utah Division of Archives and Records Services
Salt Lake City, UT
$40,000 to support the Utah State Historical Records Advisory Board regranting program, scholarships, and outreach. (RC-104839)
Vermont State Archives and Records Administration
Montpelier, VT
$12,385 to support the Vermont Historical Records Program programming, including two internships hosted by VHRP, a roving archivist, environmental monitoring, a mobile digitization unit, and Archives Month outreach. (RC-104938)
PUBLISHING HISTORICAL RECORDS
For projects that document major historical figures, and important eras and social movements in the history of the nation.
American University
Washington, DC
$124,097 to support ongoing work to edit and publish the Correspondence of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore. This project offers primary sources written by Presidents Taylor and Fillmore (1844-1853) and their correspondents – men and women from all walks of life – accessible to scholars, students, and all interested in learning about the nation as it expanded its boundaries while advancing toward civil war. During the proposed grant period, staff will train students new to documentary editing, complete final editorial work for Vol. 1, continue transcription and editorial work on Vols. 2 and 3, and promote the project through blog articles, a podcast episode, and regular social media posts. (PD-104941)
Kentucky Historical Society
Frankfort, KY
$123,998 to support a project to edit and publish the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition. Project staff will continue editorial work to advance the transcription and annotation of 3,700 documents from the Kentucky Department for Library and Archives and the Kentucky Department of Military Affairs, hiring and training Graduate Research Associates in editorial work, and outreach activities that include interpretative site essays and hosting their third Civil War History Day public event. (PD-104836)
Japanese American Cultural and Community Center
Los Angeles, CA
$125,000 to support a project to edit and publish the digital edition of the Los Angeles Issei Poetry Collection. This bilingual digital edition is based upon 22 rare works of poetry from the Los Angeles Issei Poetry Collection which consists of Japanese-language poetry, drama, and prose written by Issei (first-generation Japanese immigrants) in Los Angeles beginning in 1910. The Collection provides a composite image of the extensive literary and artistic networks active in Los Angeles and other West Coast cities before and after the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Staff will complete transcriptions, metadata, annotations, and essays for 675 pages; continue to digitize material; finalize the web portal; host two public programs; continue preservation work; and publicize the project across media channels. (PD-104847)
University of Maryland
College Park, MD
$124,157 to support ongoing work to edit and publish Slavery Law & Power: Debating Justice & Democracy in Early America and the British Empire. This selective documentary editing project explores the ideological debates and struggles over slavery and power in the early British Empire and in the new United States in the 17th and 18th centuries. It provides scholars with an online resource to explore original manuscripts to learn how policy choices supported and expanded the institutional foundations for slavery, and how those were challenged, during a key era of debate over human rights and democracy. Staff will continue editorial work including transcription and annotation of 250 manuscript pages, public outreach activities including conference presentation and social media, offering a History-Lab course based on the material, and improve the website’s searchability. (PD-104842)
Northeastern University
Boston, MA
$125,000 to support the Digital Archival for Indigenous Language Persistence, a collaboration with Cherokee community members across the three Federally-recognized Cherokee tribes. This collaboration uses existing digitized manuscripts to create a digital edited collection of transcribed, annotated, and translated Cherokee texts with accompanying audio recordings. For their edition, the team will add new translations from “The Willie Jumper Stories,” a collection of shared wisdom, cultural practices, and retellings of historical events gathered and recorded by the Cherokee-Creek minister, Siquinida, or Willie Jumper. Project staff will translate, edit, and annotate 101 pages; produce accompanying audio recordings; create instructional materials; digitally publish the materials; and join the intergenerational Cherokee translate-a-thon hosted at the John Hair Cultural Resource Center in Tahlequah, OK. (PD-104924)
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD
$125,000 to support editorial work on its collaborative digital edition, Kinship and Longing: Keywords for Black Louisiana (K4BL). The K4BL team is a collective of researchers creating a digital edition that highlights Black life and culture of the Gulf Coast during the 18th century. This community-engaged digital edition from 18th century French and Spanish Louisiana will illuminate the lives and resistance of enslaved and free people of African descent against bondage, colonialism, and the everyday terror of slavery. Staff will incorporate 100 entries, produce 20 transcriptions and translations, review 240 manuscript pages, hire new team members, conduct editorial review, upload material and launch the beta edition, add new editorial facets to the prototype, publicize through media channels, mentor students, engage project and community partners, and host a spring and summer workshop. (PD-104943)