Digitizing Historical Records | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), part of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), is offering a discretionary grant opportunity called Digitizing Historical Records (Funding Opportunity Number: DIGITIZING 201106; CFDA 89.003). The program is designed to strengthen preservation and public use of Americas documentary heritage by supporting projects that digitize historically important materials and make them freely accessible online. At its core, the opportunity is meant for archives and other historical repositories that already hold the original materials, already provide public access onsite, and already have enough description in place to support discovery of the digitized content without building brand-new metadata from scratch.

Projects funded under this program must focus on digitizing entire collections or an entire records series from existing repository holdings, rather than selecting scattered items or creating thematic “best-of” sets. Applications are expected to make a clear case that the targeted collection is nationally significant and meaningfully contributes to understanding U.S. democracy, history, or culture. NHPRC is emphasizing cost-effective digitization methods and workflows that reuse existing descriptive information (for example, collection guides, folder lists, catalog records, or other finding aids) as the basis for metadata. The idea is to reduce duplicative labor and produce digitized collections that can be discovered and used at scale by researchers and the public.

To be competitive, proposals need to show four main things: first, the national significance of what will be digitized; second, a practical workflow that repurposes existing description rather than creating new descriptive metadata; third, reasonable project costs, appropriate technical standards, and a sustainable plan for preserving the resulting digital files over time; and fourth, a thoughtful evaluation plan that measures both how people use the digitized materials and how effective the project’s digitization and online presentation methods are. The program is not just funding scanning; it is also looking for applicants to demonstrate that the digitized output will be preserved responsibly and that the project will learn from and document its own effectiveness.

There are also clear restrictions on what NHPRC funds can and cannot be used for. Grant funds may not be used to create descriptive metadata, to produce edited transcriptions of digitized materials, or to develop websites that charge users a fee to view images. In other words, the digitized materials must be made freely available online, and the project should rely on existing descriptive work rather than proposing a major new cataloging or transcription effort as a primary activity supported by the grant.

Funding levels are relatively modest but substantial for focused digitization initiatives. Awards are typically for one to three years, with a maximum (ceiling) of $150,000 per grant and no stated minimum (award floor of $0). NHPRC anticipated making up to five awards in this category, with total program funding up to $400,000. Recipients must acknowledge NHPRC support in any products that result from the grant, which generally includes online collections, project documentation, and related publications or presentations.

Cost sharing is required and is a major structural feature of this opportunity. NHPRC will cover up to 50 percent of total project costs, meaning the applicant must provide the remaining share through matching contributions. The match can take multiple forms, including direct and indirect costs, in-kind contributions, non-federal third-party support, and income earned directly by the project. This requirement pushes applicants to demonstrate institutional commitment and the capacity to sustain the work beyond federal support.

Eligible applicants include a broad range of public and nonprofit entities that typically steward historical records, such as 501(c)(3) nonprofits (excluding higher education institutions in that specific category), state and local governments (including counties, cities, and townships), public and private institutions of higher education, and federally recognized Native American tribal governments. The opportunity was posted December 14, 2010, with an application deadline of June 9, 2011 (archived July 9, 2011), and the sponsoring agency is the National Archives and Records Administration through NHPRC. For assistance accessing the full announcement, the listed contact was Jeff de la Concepcion, Grant Program Specialist, at 202-357-5022.

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