National Archives Awards $2.6 Million in Grants for Historical Records Projects
Press Release · Monday, December 3, 2012

Washington, DC…Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero has approved 46 proposals totaling $2,605,494 in Federal awards for projects in 35 states and the District of Columbia. This grants program is carried out through the National Archives National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). A complete list of the approved grants [www.archives.gov/nhprc/awards/awards-11-12.html] is online.

Grants totaling $1.2 million went to nine publishing projects from the U.S. Colonial and Early National period, including the papers of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Dolley Madison, and John Jay. Also funded were projects to record the documentary history of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution and the documentary history of the first Federal Congress.

Grants totaling $750,000 went to the State and National Archives Partnership (SNAP) to enable 30 state historical records advisory boards to fund archival education and strengthen the nation’s archival network. Fourteen of those states received funds for “regrant” projects, which will help them fund small and local archives and historical records repositories.

Digitizing historical records grants, totaling $420,000, went to four projects: the University of Florida will digitize and make available more than 36,000 pages of diaries and manuscripts from the end of the Colonial period to the beginnings of the modern state; Princeton University will digitize more than 400,000 pages of six Cold War-related manuscript collections; Harvard University will digitize 189,074 pages, covering four generations of the Blackwell Family from 1784 to 1981, that cover abolition, temperance, women's suffrage, and education; and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation in Springfield, Illinois, will digitize the records of Richard Yates, Sr., governor of Illinois 1861-1865.

Three Electronic Records grants, totaling $235,000, went to: the Council of State Archivists for a two-year project to strengthen the capacity of states and territories to manage and preserve electronic records; an electronic records start-up project at the Guggenheim Museum in New York; and a planning grant for the Missouri Office of the Secretary of State to establish an electronic records archives.

Archivist Ferriero is the Chairman of the 15-member Commission, which includes representatives from all three branches of the Federal government as well as the leading archival and historical professional associations. Kathleen Williams is the Executive Director. Established in 1934 with the National Archives, the NHPRC has awarded nearly 5,000 grants for preserving, publishing, and providing access to the nation’s historical documents. See more information [www.archives.gov/nhprc].

# # #

For press information, please contact the National Archives Public Affairs Staff at (202) 357-5300.

Connect with Us on:
Twitter:   http://www.twitter.com/@USNatArchives
Facebook:   USNationalArchives
Tumblr:   http://usnatarchives.tumblr.com

13-24