Access to Historical Records: Major Initiatives | MAJOR 201907

Opportunity Information: Apply for MAJOR 201907

Access to Historical Records: Major Initiatives is a discretionary grant program from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), part of the National Archives and Records Administration, that funds projects designed to substantially improve how the public discovers, accesses, and uses major historical records collections. The program puts a strong emphasis on efforts that create broad public benefit, meaning projects should not only preserve or organize materials, but also deliver clearer pathways for researchers, educators, and community members to find and meaningfully use the records.

A central priority in this opportunity is Americas early legal documentation. NHPRC is especially interested in records that capture the development of the nations legal history, including colonial, territorial, county, and early statehood proceedings, as well as tribal records and related legal materials. At the same time, the program is not limited to legal documents alone. It supports many record types, including paper-based documents, photographs, born-digital materials, and analog sound and moving image formats, as long as the project improves access and use in a substantial way.

Funded projects can take several forms. Applicants may propose digitizing significant historical records held by a single institution and making the digitized materials freely available online. Proposals may also focus on improving access to born-digital records, which often require specialized workflows for processing, description, and delivery. Another eligible approach is building new, openly available virtual collections that bring together related records from multiple institutions, helping users find dispersed materials in one coherent access point. The program also supports the creation of new tools, platforms, or methods that make it easier for users to discover, search, analyze, or otherwise engage with records, particularly when those approaches can be reused by others.

Collaboration is encouraged and can make an application more competitive, especially when it helps unite complementary collections across repositories. NHPRC signals that stronger proposals will address widely recognized needs in the field and produce approaches that are replicable and scalable, meaning they can be adapted by other institutions and expanded beyond a single pilot effort. The Commission also encourages applicants to involve the public in meaningful ways, such as through community engagement activities, crowdsourcing, educational outreach, or other participatory methods that connect people to the historical materials being made available.

Awards in this category range from 100,000 to 350,000 and can support projects lasting one to three years. NHPRC anticipated making up to five awards, with total program funding up to 1,000,000. Funded projects were expected to begin no earlier than January 1, 2020. Grant recipients must acknowledge NHPRC support in publicity, publications, and any products created with grant assistance.

Eligibility covers a broad set of US-based organizations, including nonprofit organizations and institutions, colleges and universities, state and local government agencies, and federally acknowledged or state recognized Native American tribes or groups. The source listing also includes public and state-controlled institutions of higher education and private institutions of higher education among eligible applicants.

Cost sharing is required and is a major structural element of this program. NHPRC will fund no more than 50 percent of a projects total costs, meaning the applicant must supply the remaining share. The applicants contribution can include direct costs, allowable indirect expenses counted as part of cost share, in-kind contributions, non-federal third-party contributions, and project-generated income. A key constraint is that NHPRC funds cannot be used for indirect costs under the referenced federal regulation (2 CFR 2600.101), so any indirect costs must be covered on the applicant side and shown in the cost-sharing portion of the budget.

Applications must meet federal administrative requirements. The applicant organization must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) before applying and keep that registration active through the application and award period. The application must include a valid DUNS number (as stated in the opportunity text) and a complete set of required forms and narrative components. A complete submission includes Standard Form 424, Standard Form 424B, a project narrative, a summary, supplementary materials, and a budget. Incomplete applications will not be considered, and submissions focused entirely on activities the Commission deems ineligible will be rejected without review. Applicants are also directed to consult NHPRC guidance on what it does and does not fund and to note that the Access to Historical Records: Archival Projects program is a separate funding track with different requirements and award levels.

• The National Archives and Records Administration in the humanities (see cultural affairs in cfda) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Access to Historical Records: Major Initiatives" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 89.003.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jun 18, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 11, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $350,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 5 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for MAJOR 201907

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