National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC)

Funded Electronic Records Projects

This is a list of the Electronic Records Projects funded since 1979.
(Each award is identified in parentheses by the year of the award and grant number.)

About the Projects

The NHPRC seeks ways to ensure that records created today will be usable with tomorrow's technology.
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View the most recent Electronic Records Projects:

  • Tufts University, Medford, MA:   A grant of $149,974 to support the development of an open-source accessioning program for electronic records in connection with FEDORA. The program will allow records creator to create a submission package to accompany electronic records. The electronic records archivist will then use this data to describe the electronic records and to ensure their authenticity. (RE10005-08)

  • The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD:   A grant of $50,000 to support an assessment of the viability for an Electronic Records Management Consortium for the four major Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. (RE10014-08)

  • University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill:   A grant of $257,800 to support the School of Information and Library Science and the Renaissance Computing Institue in the development of a Distributed Achival Custodial Preservation Environments for electronic records (www.dcape.org. DCAPE will develop a cost-model for providing preservation services for electronic records by developing the iRODS (integrate Rule-Oriented Data System www.irods.org) to meet the needs of state archives and other repositories. (RE10010-08)

  • Emory University, Atlanta, GA:   A grant of $300,337 to support MetaArchive: A Sustainable Digital Preservation Service for Cultural and Historical Records. The MetaArchive staff will develop a cost-model for providing a variety of preservation services for electronic records based primarily on LOCKSS model. (RE10002-08)

  • Northern Maine Development Commission, Caribou, ME:   A grant of $32,200 to support preserving electronic records in Northern Maine. The Commission will provide workshops to local government employees in this rural region on best practices in electronic records preservation. The workshops will acknowledge the limited infrastructure that supports these governments while suggesting practical approaches. (RE05698-08)

  • North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Raleigh, NC:   A grant of $102,248 to support a two-year effort, the Preservation of Electronic Mail Collaboration Initiative. The North Carolina State Archives, the Kentucky Department of Library and Archives, and the Pennsylvania State Archives are working in collaboration to test the e-mail preservation software in real time on a larger scale. They have identified high level offices that produce archival correspondence and have high public interest within each participating state e.g. a constitutional office such as the Governor or the Secretary of State within each state. This partnership involves working with content producers, information technology support staff, records analysts, and employees in the agencies. (RE05701-07)

  • Michigan State University, Lansing, MI:   A grant of $189,067 to support a two-year project for the preservation of specialized electronic mailing list archives. The project seeks to advance the state of electronic mail archiving by assessing and improving the digital preservation, management, and access functions of H-Net's archiveof one million plus electronic mailing list records housed at Michigan State University. (RE05699-07)

  • California State Archives:   A grant of $220,918 to develop the hardware and software infrastructure to preserve the state's geospatial records created by the California Spatial Information Library. (2006-21)

  • Georgia Archives:   Preserving Georgia's Historical Data:   An eighteen month grant of $187,581, to the Georgia Archives to implement a plan for the migration of data provided by the Board of Pardons and Paroles' Executive Clemency Online Application and Verification System (ECOAVS). The model envisioned by the archives will serve as the life cycle management application for the state. (2005-24)

  • The Research Foundation of SUNY:   Preserving Authentic Non-Textual and Interactive Records:   An eighteen month grant of $256,997, to support the concluding phase of the United States research team for the International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems (InterPARES 2). (2005-031)

  • Secretary of State's Office:   Montana Electronic Records Project:   A twelve month grant to the Secretary of State's Office of the State of Montana of $30,005, to hire a consultant of survey the electronic records created by state agencies and develop a strategic plan for their creation, management, and preservation. (2005-001)

  • Minnesota Historical Society:   Preserving the Records of the E-Legislature.   A twenty-eight month grant of $264,887, to assist the Minnesota Historical Society with the development of a method for storing and providing access to an eXtensible Markup Language (XML)-based bill-drafting application for Minnesota's Legislature. The society will use grid technology developed by the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC). The project will speak directly to other state governments facing similar electronic records storage, access, preservation issues, and the shift from a paper-based bill-drafting system to an eXtensible Markup Language (XML)-based one. (2005-021)

  • The Regents of the University of California:   Persistent Archive Testbed.   A two-year grant of $242,500 on behalf of the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), the Michigan Historical Center, the Minnesota Historical Society, the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, and the Ohio Historical Society for a project entitled Persistent Archive Testbed, which will allow the participating archival institutions to test SDSC's data grid and persistent archives technologies using a variety of archival collections. (2004-008)

  • The Maine State Archives:   Maine GeoArchives  A sixteen month grant of $99,624 to the Maine State Archives to collaborate with other state agencies that are creating the Maine Library of Geographic Information (GeoLibrary) to develop the Maine GeoArchives. The GeoLibrary will store Geographic Information System (GIS) records of permanent value from both state and local agencies. (2004-084)

  • Tufts University, Medford, MA   A grant of $196,908 for the Fedora and the Preservation of University Records project, to test the capabilities of the FEDORA (Flexible Extensible Digital Object and Repository Architecture) software to serve as an electronic records preservation system at the Digital Collections and Archives of Tufts University and the Manuscripts and Archives section of the Yale University Library. (2004-083)

  • University of North Carolina:   Electronic Records Research Fellowship Program A conditional three-year grant of $284,500 to continue the NHPRC Archival Research Program to focus exclusively on electronic records research. (2004-020)

  • The Trustees of Columbia University:   A 17-month grant of $86,562 on behalf of the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) for a project to identify and disseminate practical policies, techniques, standards, and procedures to manage, preserve, and provide access to electronic records that have significant geospatial components, especially those generated by Geographic Information Systems. (2003-38)

  • Wyoming State Archives:   A one-year grant of $29,830 for a project to hire a consultant. The consultant will provide additional electronic records training for the Wyoming State Archives (WSA) staff and help the WSA develop a strategic plan for its electronic records program. (2003-35)

  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:   A two-year grant of $174,530 to fund the second and third years of its Managing the Digital University Desktop project, the first year of which was funded in Fiscal Year 2002. (2003-14)

  • Missouri State Archives:   A two-year grant of $42,670 to hire electronic records consultants to develop and conduct two presentations and seven workshops on electronic records issues. One of the presentations and one or more of the workshops will specifically focus on the Trustworthy Information Systems manual developed by the Minnesota Historical Society. (2003-13)

  • University of California, San Diego:   A two-year grant of $195,023 on behalf of the San Diego Supercomputer Center and the University of California, Los Angeles, for a project to examine the issues involved in the long-term preservation of, and access to, electronic records that were changed over time by their creators. (2003-12)

  • Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs:   A 17-month grant of $43,889 to develop a strategic plan to establish an Electronic Records Committee to be administered by the State Archives and Records Bureau. The project team will specifically look at the Trustworthy Information Systems manual developed by the Minnesota Historical Society and the Electronic Records Management guidelines developed by the Kansas State Historical Society. (2003-10)

  • Georgia Division of Archives and History:   A 17-month grant of $40,625 on behalf of itself, Southern Polytechnic University (SPSU), the Board of Regents of the University of Georgia, the Society of Georgia Archivists, the Georgia Records Association, and the Georgia State Historical Records Advisory Board to bring in consultants to conduct a series of half-day training presentations on privacy/access issues and e-government, and to convene a working group to produce a white paper on this topic. (2003-09)

  • South Carolina Department of Archives and History:   A three-year grant of $162,315 for a project to move the Department's Electronic Records Program beyond basic policy guidance to direct involvement with state agencies in addressing electronic records management and preservation issues. The applicants will specifically look at the Trustworthy Information Systems manual developed by the Minnesota Historical Society and the Electronic Records Management guidelines developed by the Kansas State Historical Society to see if those approaches can be adapted for use in South Carolina. (2003-08)

  • The Research Foundation of the State University of New York, Albany, NY:   A conditional three-year grant of $758,662 to build upon the work of the original InterPARES (International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems) Project through InterPARES 2, which will study new types of non-textual and interactive records produced by digital government and electronic commerce. (2002-27)

  • The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:   A one-year grant of $78,605 on behalf of the University of North Carolina and Duke University for a project entitled, Managing the Digital University Desktop. The project team plans to study current end user practices in managing e-mail and electronically transmitted documents in selected offices throughout the UNC system and at Duke. (2002-25)

  • Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, MN:   A 14-month grant of $105,400 to examine the NHPRC's Electronic Records Research Agenda and to recommend a new agenda. (2002-24)

  • The Regents of the University of California:   A two-year grant of $160,590 on behalf of the San Diego Supercomputer Center and the State of Michigan for a project to develop and test a model for preserving electronic records stored in a DoD Standard 5015.2-compliant Records Management Application (RMA). The applicants will evaluate DoD Standard 5015.2 to determine which features of the RMA standard must be retained in the preservation model. The project team will then evaluate the RMA product that the State of Michigan is using to determine what features of the software would be important to include in the preservation model and establish methods for exporting electronic records and metadata from the RMA. SDSC will then develop a preservation model based on the information gathered during the earlier tasks. Finally, the project team will conduct multiple pilot tests of preservation model-based prototype applications to demonstrate the potential and feasibility of preserving electronic records that have been exported from a DoD Standard 5015.2-compliant RMA. (2002-02)

  • The Regents of the University of California:   A two-year grant of $88,924, on behalf of the University of California at Los Angeles; the San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California, San Diego; and the State University of New York, University at Albany; for its Information Technology and Policy Curricula Project to identify educational needs in the area of electronic records management. (2001-36)

  • South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, SC:   A two-year grant of $37,435 for its Electronic Records Training and Awareness Program to develop and conduct six workshops on electronic records issues. (2001-35)

  • The Global Industry Interagency Group, Woburn, MA:   A 15-month grant of $199,998 for its Good Electronic Recordkeeping Practices Project to pull together from the best available knowledge and practices Good Electronic Records Practices for the long-term preservation of and access to electronic records. (2001-32)

  • The Trustees of Indiana University, Bloomington, IN:   A two-year grant of $94,642 for its Developing Instructional Programs in Electronic Records Management Project to develop and teach classes on electronic records management. (2001-31)

  • Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, MN:   A two-year grant of $150,546 for its Educating Archivists and Their Constituencies Project to develop workshops on the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) and metadata as they apply to archival concerns about electronic records. (2001-18)

  • State University of New York, University at Albany, Albany, NY:   A 15-month grant of $355,392 to continue the funding of its Long-Term Preservation of Authentic Electronic Records Project, which supports the non-NARA elements of the U.S. research team taking part in the InterPARES Project. (2001-05)

  • Michigan Department of Management and Budget, Lansing, MI:   A two-year grant of $190,255 for a project to test the ability of a DoD 5015.2-certified records management application (RMA) to classify, store, and manage the disposition of electronic records created in state offices. (2000-59)

  • University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, Burlington, VT:   A six-month planning grant of $19,633 to develop rigorous research goals and methods for testing various methods of providing intellectual access to electronic versions of the texts of historical documents. (2000-57)

  • University of Connecticut Libraries, Storrs, CT:   A one-year grant of $9,184 for a project to develop a strategic plan for identifying, preserving, and providing access to electronic records at the University of Connecticut. (2000-55)

  • The Regents of the University of California:   A three-year grant of $300,000, on behalf of the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, to conduct research on long-term preservation of and access to software-dependent electronic records. This project builds upon the SDSC's previous research in this area, which it has conducted for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and other sponsors. The NHPRC-funded project will specifically look at the scalability and usefulness of the technology in archives other than NARA. (2000-40)

  • Rhode Island Office of the Secretary of State, Providence, RI:   A two-year grant of $49,794 for a project to develop an electronic records program development model and starter's manual for small state archival programs. (2000-37)

  • Indiana University, Bloomington, IN:   A 27-month grant of $171,374 for a project to implement and test the methodology for evaluating electronic recordkeeping systems developed under NHPRC Grant No. 95-033. (2000-36)

  • State University of New York, Albany, NY:   An 18-month grant of $424,796 for its Long-Term Preservation of Authentic Electronic Records Project to fund the non-NARA elements of the U.S. research team participating in the InterPARES Project, an international research initiative to develop the theoretical and methodological knowledge required for the permanent preservation of authentic records created in electronic systems. (99-073)

  • Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, KS:   A two-year grant of $74,996 for its Electronic Records Applied Research Project to:   1) conduct applied electronic records management research by testing key elements of the NHPRC-funded electronic records management and preservation guidelines; 2) evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of the guidelines; and 3) modify the guidelines based upon the research results. (99-020)

  • Regents of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI:   A 30-month grant of $105,845 for a project entitled "Preserving Electronic Records of Collaborative Processes," to conduct an analysis of recordkeeping practices in six private-sector environments with the goals of producing case studies, assessing the degree to which functional requirements for electronic recordkeeping are applicable in settings without highly structured business processes, developing guidelines for electronic recordkeeping in such settings, and publishing a monograph based on this study. (98-029)

  • Cornell University, Ithaca, NY:   A two-year grant of up to $123,928 for project entitled "Archival Electronic Records Practice," to study the types of archival electronic records produced on the college level within a large university. The goal is to initiate discussions and provide recommendations that will form the basis for future efforts to implement best practices for electronic recordkeeping for Cornell's centralized university information system (Project 2000). (98-028)

  • The Research Foundation of the State University of New York, Albany, NY:   A two-year grant of $381,332 for a project entitled Secondary Uses of Electronic Records to develop guidelines to support and promote long-term preservation of and access to public electronic records of value to secondary users, including historians and other researchers. The project will examine the factors that contribute to or impede secondary use of records, then use applied research methodologies to assess technology tools, management strategies, and resource-sharing models for their potential to facilitate such access. (98-027)

  • Association of Research Libraries, Coalition for Networked Information, Washington, DC:   $20,000 for a project entitled, "Improved Access to Electronic Records," to develop, offer, and evaluate a pilot workshop that will bring together teams of archivists and information technologists to explore electronic records issues. (98-025)

  • Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, MN:   A two-year grant of $90,031 for the Society's electronic records project, to establish electronic records pilot programs with two state agencies in order to evaluate the metadata the agencies produce, determine the applicability of that metadata to archival concerns, and establish a set of "best practices" and guidelines that will provide incentives for other state agencies to document their information systems and provide the basis for a functioning, sustainable electronic records program within the state archives. (98-001)

  • WGBH Foundation, Boston, MA:   $60,000 for a one-year project to develop and build support for a Universal Preservation Format for audio and video digital recordings. (97-029)

  • Syracuse University, School of Information Studies, Syracuse, NY:   $99,993 for a project to evaluate the degree to which Federal and state government agencies are addressing records management and archival concerns in the management of World Wide Web sites, and to develop a set of model best practices guidelines for incorporating records management and archival considerations into Web site management. (97-014)


  • Alaska Department of Education, Alaska State Archives, Juneau, AK:   $10,000 for an electronic records consultancy. (97-011)

  • Maine State Archives, Augusta, ME:   $85,235 for an 18-month project to develop statewide policies and procedures for the identification and retention of permanently valuable electronic records. (97-008)

  • Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson MS:   $171,887 for a two-year project to establish an electronic records program in conjunction with the planned design of and move to a new state archives building. (97-003)

  • City of Philadelphia, Department of Records, Philadelphia, PA:   $117,862 to complete the third and final phase of the Philadelphia Electronic Records Project. The overall goal of the project is to develop comprehensive recordkeeping policies and standards for the city's information technology systems. (97-001)

  • The Research Foundation of the State University of New York, Albany, NY:   $140,000 for a two-year project to develop a system development model incorporating electronic recordkeeping and archival considerations into the creation of networked-computing and communications applications. (96-023)

  • Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, OH:   $10,000 for a consulting project to assist with planning for the development of the Ohio Electronic Records Archives. (96-019)

  • Delaware Bureau of Archives and Records Management, Dover, DE:   $101,774 for a two-year project to develop an electronic records program for state government records. (96-016)

  • The Regents of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI:   $43,450 for a conference to assess progress made in electronic records research and program development since the 1991 NHPRC-funded Working Meeting on Electronic Records. (96-012)

  • South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, SC:   $21,700 for a one-year project to plan and develop a state information locator system. (96-010)

  • Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, KS:   $28,690 for a one-year project to develop and implement an electronic records management policy for Kansas state and local governments. (96-009)

  • Indiana University, Bloomington, IN:   $122,137 for a two-year project to analyze its existing electronic records system and policy, compare them to models or policies at comparable institutions, and create and disseminate a repository information system model and information policy standards. (95-033)

  • City of Philadelphia, Department of Records:   $17,370 for a four-month bridge grant to continue an NHPRC-funded electronic records project. (see 95-031)

  • City of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA:   $79,961 for consultation and training in electronic records, to focus on the city's developing information technology systems. (95-031)

  • Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, MN:   $10,000 for an electronic records consultancy and training project. (95-030)

  • Ohio State University Research Foundation, Columbus, OH:   $12,634 for the Inter-University Council of Ohio to hold a two-day planning conference concerning electronic records and information management in preparation for extending the manual, Records Retention for Public Colleges and Universities, to include electronic records. (95-024)

  • Department of State, Bureau of History - State Archives, Lansing, MI:   $8,814 to hire an electronic records consultant to assist it in assessing the electronic records environment within state government and to identify those steps needed to address the management and preservation of electronic records. (95-001)

  • Indiana Commission on Public Records, Indianapolis, IN:    $11,000 to hire a consultant to work with the staff of the Indiana Commission on Public Records to formulate a strategic plan that establishes goals and objectives for electronic records activities within the state. (94-041)

  • The Research Foundation of the State University of New York, Albany, NY:   $132,027 for a two-year project to explore archival and records management issues using two electronic recordkeeping systems that are currently being developed for SUNY:   a full-text retrieval system for SUNY's official policies and a database application for human resource management transactions. (94-038)

  • Vermont Secretary of State, Vermont State Archives, Montpelier, VT:   $93,660 to enhance the state archives' participation in the development and implementation of a Vermont Information Strategy Plan (VISP) for the entire state government. The goal of the plan is to develop and share data across state agency organizational lines, thereby changing the nature, use, and context of the state's records. (94-037)

  • Society of American Archivists, Chicago, IL:   $95,052 to create and publish 10 case studies with teaching notes that address issues relating to archival electronic records and the use of information technologies in archives. The case studies will be used by archival educators and individuals to raise the level of knowledge and understanding of these issues in the archival profession. (94-007)

  • University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA:   $42,637 for the third and final phase of an advanced institute on electronic records and strategic planning for the states that have not participated in the previous institutes. (93-053)

  • Association for Information and Image Management, Silver Spring, MD:   $19,460 to develop a model uniform law pertaining to legal acceptance of records produced by information technology systems by Federal and state agencies and the legal admissibility of such records as evidence in Federal and state courts. (93-038)

  • The University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA:   $359,580 for a three-year study to address the first three questions in the agenda outlined in the Commission-funded report, Research Issues in Electronic Records. (93-030)

  • New York State Archives and Records Administration, Albany, NY:   $185,398 to analyze information management practices in New York State agencies and to determine how agency policies, procedures, and tools can support electronic records management and archival objectives. (92-086)

  • Governor's Office of Administration, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA:   $116,230 to enable the executive branch of state government to develop an electronic records program. (92-063)

  • The Regents of the University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library, Ann Arbor, MI:   $19,139 for the first year of the university's project to examine the potential of electronic conferences to document the intellectual and cultural life of institutions of higher learning. (91-113)

  • University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA:   $65,061 to support continuation of an advanced institute on electronic records and strategic planning for chief administrations of state government archives. (91-073)

  • Society of American Archivists, Chicago, IL:   $30,913 to develop a model curriculum and educational materials relating to automated records and techniques. (90-121 and 91-097S)

  • Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, MN:   $39,785 to fund a national planning conference on electronic records issues. (90-100)

  • Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA:   $89,022 to appraise and provide access to data sets on magnetic tape created and used by the university's administrative systems. (90-095 and 93-037S)

  • National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators, Sacramento, CA:   $10,510 to hold a two-day invitational conference of archivists and information resource management officials to identify and address key issues in ensuring the availability of historically valuable records in electronic formats and to establish a framework for analysis and action. (90-063)

  • Association for Information and Image Management, Silver Spring, MD, NA:   $10,945 to produce a technical report which will provide guidelines for government archives in the use, backup, and application of digital optical imaging systems used for the storage of public records. (90-003)

  • New York State Forum for Information Resource Management, Albany, NY:   $31,743 to inventory automated databases and selected manual files in eight New York State agencies, to produce an automated database in the USMARC format and a sourcebook of information describing the databases and files, and to evaluate information management and policy issues. (89-078)

  • Florida Historical Records Advisory Board, Tallahassee, FL:   $51,656 to study the issues surrounding information technology and public records in the State of Florida. (89-055)

  • Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, KY:   $143,869 to develop an archives and records management program for machine-readable records in state government. (85-069)

  • Temple University, Philadelphia, PA:   $38,955 to survey machine-readable records in public and quasi-public agencies in seven counties of two states, centered at Philadelphia, as part of the university's program to establish a data archives for the area. (83-056)

  • State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, WI:   $33,360 for the second and final phase of a project to develop an archival program for machine-readable public records in the state. (81-144)

  • University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI:   $34,595 to develop procedures to schedule, accession, and retrieve information from machine-readable records of Wisconsin state agencies. (80-008)

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