National Archives Awards $2.1 Million for Historical Records Projects
Press Release · Thursday, December 8, 2016

Washington, DC

Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero has awarded 30 grants and three cooperative agreements totaling $2,104,819 to projects being undertaken in 22 states and the District of Columbia. The National Archives grants program is carried out through the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). The complete list of grants is online.

Publishing grants totaling $675,294 went to five publishing projects, including the papers of John Adams, Eleanor Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, the Presidential Recordings during the Lyndon Johnson Administration, and the Documentary History of the Ratification of the U.S. Constitution and Adoption of the Bill of Rights. The Commission also funded its ongoing cooperative agreement of up to $170,000 with the University of Virginia to support Founders Online, which provides free online access to the papers of the United States of America’s founders.

Grants totaling $578,234 went for State Board Programming grants to enable 18 state historical records advisory boards to carry out their mission to support archival education and strengthen the nation’s archival network. Two cooperative agreements were made with the Council of State Archivists: one for up to $20,000 to support a Strategic Plan initiative on state historical records advisory boards, and one for up to $24,000 to support a Strategic Plan initiative on email records management at state and Federal government.

Access to Historical Records grants, totaling $637,291, went to seven projects to make accessible the C. Owen Smithers Photograph Collection at the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives; the history of St. Augustine through records at the University of Florida; seven AIDS History Project collections at the University of California, San Francisco; the Iowa Labor History Project at the University of Iowa; Brooklyn College’s collection of YWCA records, 1888-2011; the history of Iowa through records at Iowa State University of Science and Technology; and audio recordings of 700 poetry readings and speeches in St. Louis through Washington University.

The White House also announced that President Obama has appointed Rebecca Hankins, Africana Resources Librarian/Curator at Texas A&M University, to the Commission and that Naomi Nelson, Associate University Librarian, Duke University, has been reappointed to 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. The Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero is its Chairman, and Kathleen Williams is the Executive Director. Established in 1934 with the National Archives, the NHPRC has awarded 5,000 grants for preserving, publishing, and providing access to the nation’s historical documents.