Commission Recommends $3.1 Million in Grants for Documentary Editing and Archival Projects
Press Release · Tuesday, June 6, 2006

Washington, DC

At its Spring meeting, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) recommended to the Archivist of the United States grants of $3.1 million for 54 projects in 25 states and the District of Columbia.

These recommendations included $1.5 million for 21 documentary editing projects from the Papers of Frederick Douglass and the Papers of John Jay, to the Presidential Recordings Project and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers. Eight subventions were awarded to university presses to defray the cost of publishing new volumes on the Documentary History of Emancipation, the legal papers of Abraham Lincoln, the diary of Joseph Mersman, the records of the Salem Witch Hunt, and the papers of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton.

Basic level support was awarded to nine states to support the work of Historical Records Advisory Boards in Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota and Wyoming.

Sixteen grants, totaling $1.3 million, were recommended for a variety of projects across the country, including the papers of Edmund Muskie at Bates College, the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming, the Tribal Archives of the Seneca Nation of Indians, and the archives of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

The NHPRC also announced that it will now be accepting applications for Historical Documentary Editing fellowships and pilot projects for Digitizing Historical Records and an Archival Leadership Institute.

• The Fellowships will enable currently-funded NHPRC Publishing Process to hire graduate level students for one year to train and assist in editing.
• The Digitizing Historical Records will enable grantees to test and implement cost-effective methods to scan historical collections and make digital versions available on the Internet. The new Archival Leadership Institute will provide executive leadership and nonprofit management skills for archivists and records managers.

At the May meeting, the Commission also welcomed its newest member, the Honorable Harry T. Edwards, judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, as representative from the U.S. Supreme Court. The NHPRC is one of the few Federal advisory boards with representatives from all three branches of the U.S. Government.

The Archivist of the United States, Allen Weinstein, is the Chairman of the Commission, and Max J. Evans is its Executive Director. The NHPRC is the sole federal funding agency whose only focus is the documentary heritage of the United States. Established in 1934, it has awarded grants for preserving, publishing, and providing access to vital historical documents. Twice each year, in May and November, the Commission recommends grants to the Chairman. Its appropriations for FY 2006 are $5.5 million.

06-109