How to Apply for this Grant
- Read this Announcement
- Read the Application Instructions
- Download the Application from Grants.gov
Questions?
- Contact the NHPRC
E-mail:
nhprc@nara.gov* 
Telephone: 202-357-5010 
Fax: 202-357-5914
* Please see our Privacy Statement
Grant Announcement:
Archives- Detailed Processing Projects
The NHPRC supports projects to conduct activities to promote the preservation and use of America's documentary heritage essential to understanding of our democracy, history, and culture.
The following grant application information is for Archives - Detailed Processing Projects.
- See also Archives - Basic Projects and Electronic Records Projects grants.
- An applicant may not propose a Basic Project and a Detailed Processing Project at the same application deadline.
NHPRC support begins no earlier than June 1, 2009.
See the Application Cycle for additional information.
Grant Program Description
The collections should also have high research demand or substantial preservation challenges. Applicants must have virtually all of their collections processed sufficiently so that researchers can find them. In addition, they must have procedures in place to prevent the creation of new backlogs that delay access to their holdings. If archives have not achieved these goals, they should review the Archives - Basic Projects announcement to see if their projects are better suited to that funding category.
Detailed Processing Projects may include reformatting records onto microfilm or other media in order to ensure their permanence in the face of high demand. Applicants may process and create detailed descriptions at the series or file level. Such descriptions will improve user access to historical records and help preserve collections. If parts of collections deserve processing to the item level, applicants must provide specific justifications for this detailed degree of work and provide estimates of the percentage of collections to be processed to the item level.
Projects should revise corresponding collection-level records and submit them to national library catalogs. They must also create or revise detailed finding aids using Encoded Archival Description (EAD) and provide them to a national archival database and appropriate regional and institutional databases. If other search mechanisms, descriptive methods, or name indexes are necessary for parts of collections, applicants should explain the reasons for creating these tools. Applicants should also outline their publicity and outreach plans for promoting use of collections.
Applicants should describe the level of preservation treatment to be carried out in the project. The Commission expects that most preservation work will take place at the file level and may include selective refoldering and basic cleaning of loose dirt and other foreign matter. Applicants must explain whether any item level treatment will be necessary. Item level treatment generally includes removing fasteners, opening envelopes, and flattening, copying, encapsulating, de-acidifying, and mending documents.
For collections of fragile textual materials, applicants may apply for grants in support of preservation microfilming. When appropriate, applicants should consider hybrid microfilm/digitization (using dual head cameras, or microfilm-to-digital or digital-to-microfilm techniques). Applicants who wish only to engage in digitization should see the Digitizing Historical Records announcement.
For collections of unstable audio or video materials, applicants may propose preservation reformatting or migration.
Applicants may propose limited digitization of series or items that have the most potential to reach a broad public, or to provide illustrations of the type of records and documents found in the series and collection. Applications should detail the standards to be used in this process, itemize anticipated expenses, and estimate the percentage of the collections to be digitized.
Award Information
A grant normally is for one to three years and ranges between $40,000-$200,000. The Commission expects to make up to 5 grants in this category, for a total of up to $500,000. The Commission provides no more than 50 percent of project costs for Detailed Processing Projects.
Cost Sharing
Cost sharing is the financial contribution the applicant pledges to the cost of a project. Cost sharing can include both direct and indirect expenses, in-kind contributions, non-Federal third-party contributions, and any income earned directly by the project.
Eligibility
Archives and other repositories of historical documents that are part of:
- Nonprofit organizations or institutions
- Colleges and Universities and other academic institutions
- State or local government agencies
- Federally-acknowledged or state-recognized Native American tribes or groups
How to Prepare an Application
Applicants must use the Grants.gov application process. See How to Apply.
Applicants are encouraged to contact Daniel Stokes, Program Officer at the NHPRC who may:
- advise the applicant about the review process;
- answer questions about what activities are eligible for support;
- supply samples of successful applications; and
- read and comment on a preliminary draft. Applicants may submit a draft at least 2 months before the deadline.
Applicants should also contact their State Historical Records Advisory Board about the proposal and seek the board's advice. Many state boards encourage applicants to submit draft proposals in advance of NHPRC deadlines.
Completing an Application
A complete application includes a Project Narrative, Summary, Supplementary Materials, and Budget.
Before beginning the process, applicants should review the rules and regulations governing NHPRC grants under the Administering an NHPRC Grant section.
Project Narrative
The Project Narrative is a description of the proposal. Address the requirements listed above, as well as the following questions:
- Answers should be no more than 20 double-spaced pages in 12-pt type with standard margins.
- You should supplement the narrative with resumes, examples, and illustrations, which should also be no more than 20 pages.
Question 1: What is the purpose of the project and what are its goals?
Begin with an overview of the project. Briefly summarize your organization's history, mission, and goals with an emphasis on its archival programs and records. Describe the nature and scope of your holdings. Demonstrate that virtually all of your holdings are available to researchers and that all new accessions receive a basic level of processing within a reasonable time. Explain the overall goals of the project and its relationship to your strategic plans, organizational goals, and collection management plans as appropriate. Describe the materials that will be processed during this project, including the type of records, the quantity in cubic feet, and their historical significance. Demonstrate for each collection why it should be processed at a detailed level. Describe the current demand and the physical condition of the materials. Identify how you expect this project to change the demand (please use current statistics and estimates).
Question 2: What is the significance of the project in relation to the NHPRC's programs and goals?
Explain how the project relates to the Commission's overall mission, vision, and goals, particularly the goals to promote increased access and use of documentary materials held in historical records repositories. Be specific about the historical importance of individuals, events, developments, organizations, and places documented by the project's collections. Characterize the project's audience, and show how the activities proposed will increase public understanding of history, culture, and the national experience. For background, applicants may want to review the Commission's Strategic Plan.
Question 3: What is the plan of work for the grant period?
Provide evidence of preliminary planning and a realistic scope of work for the project. Outline each stage of the planned work within the grant period, and clarify complex work plans with a time chart identifying anticipated activities.
Detail the ways in which you plan to describe the materials. Explain what preservation treatments are necessary. Indicate if you plan to digitize selected materials as part of the project. Describe how you will publicize the results, including the submission of catalogs and finding aids in national databases, websites, and press releases. In all cases, refer to the standards you intend to use to ensure the best results and measure productivity.
If including item-level preservation or digitization in the project, specify cost estimates for these items in the plan of work.
Question 4: What products, if any, will be produced during the grant period?
Describe the products you plan to produce for the completed project. This includes collections management materials, archival finding aids (e.g., guides, catalogs, inventories, registers, etc.) as well as related publicity. Applicants should use Encoded Archival Description (EAD) to place finding aids on the Internet and contribute MARC to appropriate national bibliographic utilities. Presentations or papers for professional organizations may also be appropriate products for these projects.
Question 5: What are the qualifications of the personnel?
Provide a narrative explanation of the qualifications of the staff named in the project budget, both for those already on staff and for those to be hired. Explain any special training planned for personnel. In the supplementary materials, provide a resume or vitae of not more than three pages per person for all staff named in the project budget. For those staff or consultants to be hired for the project, provide job descriptions.
Question 6: What are your performance objectives and how will you evaluate the success of the project?
List four to seven quantifiable Performance Objectives by which the project can be evaluated as you submit interim and final reports. The performance objectives should include the number of cubic feet to be arranged, described, and preserved. In addition, discuss methods your institution will use to evaluate the project after the end of the grant period (e.g., researchers' surveys or other methods).
Project Summary
The Project Summary should be no more than 3 double-spaced pages in 12-pt type with standard margins, and it must include these sections:
- Purposes and Goals of the Project
- Significance and Relationship to NHPRC Goals and Objectives
- Summary of Plan of Work for the Grant Period
- Products to be completed during the Grant Period
- Names, Titles, Institutions, Phone Numbers, and E-Mail Addresses of the Project Director and Key Personnel
- Performance Objectives
Supplementary Materials
Please attach up to 20 pages of Supplementary Materials to your Narrative, such as:
- Resumes of named staff members (required)
- Position descriptions for staff to be hired with grant funds (required, if applicable)
- Your institution's mission, goals, and objective statements
- Your institution's pertinent policies on collections development, processing, and preservation (required)
- Detailed work plan charts that supplement the Narrative
- Examples of MARC collection and/or series records and other discovery tools
- Statements of commitment to the project by partners, including records creators
If these materials are available on a web site, please provide the URLs.
Project Budget
Applicants will be asked to compute the project costs to be charged to grant funds as well as those that will be supported by the applicant through cost sharing, which includes both direct and in-direct expenses, in-kind contributions, non-Federal third-party contributions, and any income earned directly by the project. All of the items listed, whether supported by grant funds or cost-sharing contributions, must be reasonable and necessary to accomplish project objectives, allowable in terms of the applicable federal cost principles, auditable, and incurred during the grant period. Applicants should review the appropriate Office of Management and Budget circulars on cost principles.
Charges to the project for items such as salaries, fringe benefits, travel, and contractual services must conform to the written policies and established practices of the applicant organization.
- You must submit a budget on the NARA/NEH Budget form found in the Grants.gov application package. Note that the form itself contains additional instructions. You may include with your application a narrative budget supplement for budget categories not otherwise explained in the project narrative.
- For some projects, you may request funding for up to 3 years, but if the project will take 18 months or longer, you must provide a budget for each project year or fraction thereof.
- Provide specific budget figures, rounding to the nearest dollar.
Budget Categories
In preparing the budget, please follow the instructions on the NARA/NEH Budget form on Grants.gov. You may also use a supplemental budget narrative to give further details, for example, on the specifications of employee's duties or equipment, the requirements and costs of consultants, or the need for travel funds:
Salaries: List each staff position and the full salary to be charged to the project and show the percentage of time each staff member will devote to the project.
- Indicate which positions are to be filled for the proposed project and which personnel are already on the staff of the applicant institution.
- Grant funds may be used to pay the salaries of only those individuals actually working on the project.
- You may count the time provided to the project by advisory board members.
Fringe Benefits: If you use a daily rate or honoraria, no separate benefits should be included.
Consultant Fees: Include payments for consultant services and honoraria, but list consultant travel expenses in the "Travel" category.
Travel: Please note that the NHPRC does not fund staff travel to professional meetings unless the travel is essential to accomplish the goals of the project.
Supplies and Materials: Justify the cost of specialized materials and supplies in a supplemental budget narrative.
Services: Include the cost of duplication and printing, long-distance telephone, equipment leasing, postage, and other services that you are not including under other budget categories or as indirect-cost expenses.
Other costs: The NHPRC does not provide grant funds for the acquisition of routine equipment such as office furnishings, shelving, and file cabinets, but we may provide grant support for the purchase of technical equipment, such as computers and peripherals, essential for a project.
Indirect costs: Include reasonable or negotiated "overhead" costs. See the Budget Form instructions to determine how to calculate indirect costs.
- You should not include indirect costs that exceed your cost sharing obligation.
- You may waive indirect costs and instead include specific overhead costs in the appropriate budget categories.
Application Review
The NHPRC staff will acknowledge receipt of the application soon after we receive it. We then begin the evaluation process:
- State Boards
Your State Historical Records Advisory Board may evaluate the application on technical merits as well as its relation to state plan priorities. - Peer Reviewers
We may ask 5 to 10 external peer reviewers to evaluate the proposal. - Commission Staff
Approximately 2 months after the submission deadline, the Project Director receives blind copies of reviewers' comments and questions from the Commission staff. Applicants have an opportunity to expand on the material provided, clear up any misconceptions, and generally strengthen the proposal before the Commission meeting. Staff make overall recommendations to the Commission based on reviewers' comments, the appropriateness of the project in meeting the Commission's goals, the proposal's completeness, conformity to application requirements and overall eligibility, and answers to the questions letter. - The Commission
After reviewing proposals, the comments of peer reviewers, the applicants' responses to the reviews, and evaluations by the Commission staff, Commission members deliberate on proposals and make funding recommendations to the Archivist of the United States who, as Commission Chairman, has final statutory authority. Throughout this process, all members of the Commission and its staff follow conflict-of-interest rules to assure fair and equal treatment of every application.
Application Cycle
This is a general guide to the Application Cycle and deadlines:
- August 1, 2008 – Submit draft to the NHPRC (optional).
- October 6, 2008 – Deadline - Final proposal due.
- May 2009 – Commission meets.
- June 1, 2009 – Earliest possible starting date for project.
Notification
Grants are contingent upon available appropriated funds. In some cases, the Commission will adjust grant amounts depending upon the number of recommended proposals and total budget. The Commission may recommend that the Archivist approve the proposal and extend an offer of a grant with applicable terms and conditions, or it may recommend rejection of the proposal.
Grant applicants will be notified within 2 weeks after the Archivist’s decision.
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