Press Release nr00-18
Press Release · Monday, December 13, 1999

Washington, DC

Washington, DC. . . The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), a statutory body affiliated with the National Archives and Records Administration, held a two-day meeting on November 16-17, 1999, and recommended grants totaling $3,207,440 for 64 projects to preserve, publish, and encourage the use of documentary sources relating to the history of the United States. NHPRC Chairman John W. Carlin welcomed new Commission member Brent Glass, the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and State Historical Records Coordinator for Pennsylvania, representing the American Association for State and Local History, to his first Commission meeting.

The Commission voted to issue a call for proposals for a special three-year, $1.8 million initiative designed to broaden the base and raise the level of archival expertise in the area of electronic records throughout the nation. The Commission will continue to support proposals addressing other areas of its electronic records research agenda.

The Commission approved final funding for the National Forum on Archival Continuing Education, scheduled for April 27-29, 2000 in Decatur, GA. The Forum will include representatives from more than 45 national and regional organizations that currently provide continuing education to those caring for historical records or whose constituents are potential consumers of such services. The 2000 meeting of the Council of State Historical Records Coordinators (COSHRC) will be held in conjunction with the Forum. The $183,072-grant will be administered by the American Association for State and Local History, in partnership with COSHRC. The grant also includes funding for the COSHRC meeting at the National Association of Government Archivists and Records Administrators meeting in Columbia, SC in July, and the 2001 COSHRC meeting.

The Commission approved a grant of up to $300,000 to the San Diego Supercomputer Center to build upon its previous research on the long-term preservation of and access to software-dependant data objects. This research is sponsored by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the National Science Foundation, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and others. The NHPRC-funded project will specifically look at the scalability and usefulness of the technology in archives other than NARA.

The Commission also endorsed a project to produce an edition of the Papers of Eleanor Roosevelt.

At the meeting, the Commission recommended that the Archivist of the United States make grants totaling up to $1,370,714 for eight founding-era documentary editing projects; $40,000 for the publication subvention of four volumes produced by those projects; $50,778 for the publication subvention of six volumes produced by non-founding-era documentary editing projects; $142,133 for 13 state board administrative support projects (a new type of project being awarded for the first time); up to $555,884 for eight state board planning, implementation, regrant, and collaborative projects; up to $741,423 for six electronic records projects; $192,132 for 15 bridge grants to support non-founding-era documentary editing projects affected by the shift of the Commission's spring meeting dates from February to May; and $114,376 to support the Institute for the Editing of Historical Documents and to fund the Commission's archival administration and historical documentary editing fellowships. A total of $5,205,716 had been requested.

The Commission selected the Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, as the host project for its 2000-2001 Fellowship in Historical Documentary Editing. It also selected the Special Collections Department of the University of Virginia Library as the host institution for its 2000-2001 Fellowship in Archival Administration.

On November 16, the Commission commemorated its 65th anniversary, and the 25th anniversary of the Congressional action which added the "R" - for Records - to its name. At a special noontime ceremony on November 17, NHPRC Chairman John W. Carlin presented the Commission's 1999 Distinguished Service Award to Larry J. Hackman, Director of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library, who served as the first director of NHPRC's Records Program. The Commission also hosted a public briefing on the series of prototypes created by the Model Editions Partnership to demonstrate standard approaches for the publication of historical documentary editions in electronic form.

The next meeting of the Commission is tentatively scheduled for May 2-3, 2000. Information about the NHPRC and application materials for all Commission grants, including fellowships, is available on the NHPRC's redesigned website: http://www.archives.gov/nhprc_and_other_grants/, or may be requested by telephone, fax, e-mail, or regular mail:

Telephone: (202) 501-5610
FAX: (202) 501-5601
e-mail: nhprc@nara.gov

Mailing Address:
    National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC)
    National Archives and Records Administration
    700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 111
    Washington, DC 20408-0001

For further information concerning grants or other Commission business, see the NHPRC website at: http://www.archives.gov/nhprc_and_other_grants/.

For additional PRESS information, please contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at (301) 837-1700 or by e-mail.

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