Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants

Deadline: October 16, 2007 & April 2, 2008

The name "Start-Up Grant" is deliberately evocative of the technology start-up--a company like an Apple Computer or a Google that took a brilliant idea and, with a small amount of seed money, was able to grow it into a new way of doing business. NEH's Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants will encourage scholars with bright new ideas and provide the funds to get their projects off the ground. Some projects will be practical, others completely blue sky. Some will fail while others will succeed wildly and develop into important projects. But all will incorporate new ways of studying the humanities.

The cross-divisional nature of the Start-Up Grants is a key. Applicants don't need to be concerned with determining exactly which NEH division or program is best suited for their projects. Their job is to be innovative and the NEH's job is to provide the funding they need to be successful. NEH staff will work with potential applicants in the pre-application stages to help them craft their submissions.

NEH Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants are offered for the planning or initial stages of digital humanities initiatives in all areas of NEH concern: research, publication, preservation, access, teacher training, and dissemination in informal or formal educational settings. Applications should describe the concept or problem that is being addressed, the plan of work, the experience of the project team as it relates to the plan, and the intended outcomes of both the grant and the larger project that the grant will initiate.

A one-page brochure about this program is available here (PDF Format).

Revised application guidelines for this program are available now.