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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Archives Detailed Processing Projects (NHPRC/NARA)

1) What is the Archives Detailed Processing Projects grant?

The Archives Detailed Processing Projects grant is a discretionary federal funding opportunity offered by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), which is part of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). It supports in-depth archival processing, description, and related preservation work for qualifying collections.

2) What is the Funding Opportunity Number for this grant?

The Funding Opportunity Number is DETAILED 201010.

3) What is the purpose of this funding opportunity?

The purpose is to fund detailed archival processing and preservation work for collections that are nationally significant and that are either heavily used by researchers or facing meaningful preservation risks.

4) Who is this program designed for?

This program is designed for repositories that already have a relatively mature level of control over their holdings and are ready to move beyond basic access toward richer description and stronger long-term stewardship.

5) What baseline eligibility expectations apply to repositories?

An applicant repository is expected to have virtually all of its collections processed enough that researchers can discover them through online searching. The repository must also have systems and procedures in place to prevent new backlogs from accumulating.

6) Is this grant appropriate for institutions with large unprocessed backlogs?

No. The opportunity is not designed for institutions with large quantities of unprocessed or minimally controlled material. Organizations that have not reached the baseline level of processing and backlog control are considered ineligible for this category.

7) If an institution is not eligible for this category, what NHPRC program is suggested instead?

Institutions that have not reached the required baseline are directed to the NHPRC Archives Basic Projects announcement, which is intended for organizations still building foundational processing capacity.

8) What kind of processing and description does the grant typically support?

The grant supports detailed processing and description, typically at the series or file level. Applications are expected to explain exactly how materials will be arranged, processed, and described, and what descriptive outputs will be produced.

9) What should an application say about arrangement and descriptive outputs?

Applications are expected to explain the planned approach to arrangement, processing, and description and to identify the descriptive products that will result (for example, detailed finding aids or revised descriptive tools).

10) Does the program expect applicants to address physical and housing issues discovered during processing?

Yes. Because detailed processing can reveal physical and housing issues, proposals should address any selective refoldering and basic cleaning that may be required.

11) Can item-level processing or treatment be included?

Yes, but the application is expected to be explicit about whether any item-level treatment is anticipated and what it would include.

12) What are examples of item-level work mentioned in the opportunity?

Examples include removing fasteners, opening and sorting contents from envelopes, flattening folded items, copying for access or preservation purposes, encapsulation, de-acidification, and basic mending or stabilization.

13) If item-level processing is proposed, what justification is required?

If item-level processing is proposed for any portion of a collection, the application must justify why that level of attention is warranted and must estimate what percentage of the collection will receive item-level work.

14) Does the grant emphasize discovery beyond the applicant institution?

Yes. The opportunity emphasizes improving discovery at the national level, not just within the home institution.

15) What cataloging and record-sharing activities are expected?

Projects should update the relevant collection-level catalog records and submit those records to national library catalogs.

16) Are finding aids required, and what standard is expected?

Applicants are generally expected to create or revise detailed finding aids using Encoded Archival Description (EAD) and contribute those finding aids to a national archival database as well as appropriate regional and institutional discovery platforms.

17) Can applicants use a descriptive approach other than EAD?

Yes, but if a descriptive approach other than EAD is planned, the proposal needs to explain why an alternative method is necessary and appropriate for the materials being processed.

18) Does the program allow preservation reformatting for fragile materials?

Yes. For fragile textual materials, applicants may request support to reformat content for preservation.

19) What preservation reformatting approaches are encouraged for fragile textual materials?

Applicants are encouraged to consider hybrid approaches that combine microfilm and digitization. The announcement notes options such as dual-head camera workflows and conversions between microfilm and digital formats (microfilm-to-digital or digital-to-microfilm).

20) Is digitization allowed under this opportunity?

Limited digitization is permitted, but only in a targeted way. Digitization should focus on selected series or items most likely to benefit broad public use or that serve as representative examples of the larger collection.

21) What must an application include if it proposes digitization?

Applications proposing digitization are expected to spell out the technical standards that will be used, provide a clear budget breakdown of digitization costs, and estimate what percentage of the overall collection will be digitized.

22) Is a project that is only about digitization a good fit for this program?

No. Projects that are exclusively about digitization, rather than processing and description, are directed to a different NHPRC opportunity titled Digitizing Historical Records.

23) Does the opportunity support preservation work for unstable audiovisual media?

Yes. For collections containing unstable audiovisual media (such as at-risk audio recordings, film, or video), applicants may propose preservation reformatting or migration to more stable analog or digital formats.

24) Are outreach and publicity plans part of the expectations?

Yes. Applicants are expected to include outreach and publicity plans describing how they will promote awareness and use of the processed collections, including strategies to reach scholarly audiences and the broader public.

25) How many awards were anticipated?

The opportunity anticipated about 10 awards.

26) What is the maximum award amount (award ceiling)?

The award ceiling is $200,000.

27) Is there a minimum award amount (award floor)?

No award floor is stated.

28) Is cost sharing or matching required?

Yes. Cost sharing or matching is required, meaning applicants must contribute non-federal support to meet the program’s match expectations.

29) What is the CFDA number for this program?

The CFDA number is 89.003 (National Historical Publications and Records Grants).

30) Who is eligible to apply?

Eligible applicants include public and nonprofit entities such as state, county, and city/township governments; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; and nonprofit organizations (including 501(c)(3) nonprofits and certain nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status, other than institutions of higher education).

31) When was the opportunity posted?

The opportunity was posted on June 2, 2010.

32) What was the application deadline?

The application deadline (original and current closing date) was October 7, 2010.

33) Where can applicants find additional funding limitations and requirements?

The announcement points applicants to NHPRC’s published funding limitations (what the Commission does and does not fund) and notes that additional requirements appear in the full grant announcement.

34) Who is listed as the contact for access issues with the full announcement?

The listed contact for access issues with the full announcement is Dan Stokes, Director for State Programs.