NHPRC News
August 2024
Inside the Commission
Three New Staff Join NHPRC
Carmen Bolt (she/her/hers) is a historian and doctoral candidate at American University in Washington, D.C. She has also worked as an independent historian contracted with numerous organizations, including the National Capital Planning Commission, the Smithsonian Institution, the DC Department of Energy and the Environment, and the NEH grant-funded project, “Connecting the Interstates.” She led and facilitated numerous oral history projects both as an independent researcher and as the Oral Historian at William & Mary (2017-2019), and has contributed to several digital mapping projects, including Redlining Virginia and Mapping Inequality.
Mark Danley earned his M.A. in History from Virginia Tech in 1991, his Ph.D. in History from Kansas State University in 2001 and his Master of Library and Information Science from LSU in 2003. He was Assistant Professor (later Associate Professor) in University Libraries at University of Memphis from 2005-2015. He later worked as special collections catalog librarian at the United States Military Academy Library at West Point from 2015-2024, where he co-led a major archival retrospective accessioning and archival description project. He also previously taught in the Masters of Military History program at Norwich University. He publishes in both the military history and LIS fields and is a frequent presenter and commentator at scholarly conferences.
Patricia Germann (she/her) joins NHPRC from the National Endowment for the Arts, where she worked on a range of arts research and partnership programs. Prior to that, she served as a program analyst in NEH's Office of Digital Humanities. Patricia received a BA in dance and anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis, and she holds graduate degrees in arts and culture management through a joint program of Carnegie Mellon's Heinz School of Public Policy and the University of Bologna.
Funding Opportunities
Archival Projects
For projects that ensure online public discovery and use of historical records collections.
Final Deadline: November 7, 2024
Discovery and Access to Congressional Records Collections
For projects that ensure online public discovery and use of Congressional records collections.
Final Deadline: November 7, 2024
Capacity Building for Historically Black Colleges and Universities Archives
For projects that build capacity at HBCU Archives.
Final Deadline: November 7, 2024
Publishing Historical Records in Collaborative Digital Editions
For projects to publish documentary editions of historical records.
Final Deadline: November 7, 2024
NEWS FROM THE FIELD
Great Plains Black History Museum
In 1965, 16‑year‑old Doug Keister acquired 280 glass plate negatives, originally found at a local garage sale. He immediately made prints from some of the plates, revealing powerful, early 20th-century portraits of African Americans in Lincoln, Nebraska. This image is of Manitoba "Toby" Jones and his three children (L to R): daughters Myrtha and Edna and his son Mauranee.
These astonishing images, captured by John Johnson between 1910 and 1928, are now on display in a virtual exhibition called "Black and White in Black and White" via the Great Plains Black History Museum.
The NHPRC is delighted to support a collaboration between the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the Great Plains Black History Museum to arrange and describe the museum’s archival collection, 115 cubic feet of material dating from 1870 to 2015 that documents the development of the Black community in Omaha, Nebraska, and more broadly in the Great Plains. You can find out more about the museum at https://gpblackhistorymuseum.org/
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Throughout the summer and into the fall of 1858 as they vied for the U.S. Senate seat for Illinois, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas held a series of seven debates, trying to win the votes of the members of the state's General Assembly. Bad blood from the Lincoln-Douglas debates spilled over to their correspondence. From July 29, 1858, Lincoln to Douglas:
Dear Sir
Yours of the 24th in relation ^to^ an arrangement to divide time and address the same audiences, is received; and, in appology for not sooner replying, allow me to say that when I sat by you at dinner yesterday I was not aware that you had answered my note, nor certainly, that my own note had been presented to you– An hour after I saw ^a copy of^ your answer in the Chicago Times; and, reaching home, I found the original awaiting me– Protesting that your insinuations of attempted unfairness on my part are unjust; and with the hope that you did not very considerately make them, I proceed to reply– To your statement that "It has been suggested recently that an arrangement had been made to bring out a third candidate for the U.S. Senate who, with yourself should canvass the state in opposition to me &c" I can only only say that such suggestion must have been made by yourself; for certainly none such has been made by, or to me; or otherwise, to my knowledge– Surely you did not deliberately conclude as you insinuate, that I was expecting to draw ^you^ into an arrangement, of terms to be agreed to ^on^ by yourself, by which a third candidate, and my self, "in concert, might be able to take the opening and closing speech in every case"
As to your surprise that I did not sooner make the proposal to divide time with you, I can only say I made it as soon ^soon^ as I resolved to make it– I did not know but that such proposal would come from you; I waited respectfully to see– It may have been well known to you that you went to Springfield for the purpose of agreeing on the plan of campaign; but it was not so known to me– When your appointments were announced in the papers, extending only to the 21st of August, I, for the first time, considered it certain that you would make no proposal to me; and then resolved, that if my friends concurred, I would make one to you– As soon thereafter as I could see and consult with friends satisfactorily, I did made ^make^ the proposal– It did not occur to me that the proposed arrangement could derange your plan, after the latest of your appointments already made– After that, there was, before the election, largely over two months of clear time–
For you to say that we have already spoken at Chicago and Springfield, and that on both occasions I had the closing ^concluding^ speech, is hardly a fair statement– The truth rather is this– At Chicago, July 9th you made a carefully prepared conclusion on my speech of June 16th; twentyfour hours after I made a hasty conclusion on yours of the 9th; you had six days to prepare, and concluded on me again at Bloomington on the 16th; twentyfour hours after I concluded on you again at Springfield– In the mean time you had made another conclusion on me at Springfield, which I did not hear, and of the contents of which I knew nothing when I spoke; so that your speech made in day-light, and mine at night of the 17th at Springfield were both made in perfect independence of each other– The contents of all these speeches and the dates of making them ^dates of making all these speeches,^ will show, I think, that in the matters of time for preparation, the advantage has all been on your side; and that none of these ^the^ external circumstances have stood to my advantage–
I agree to an arrangement for us to speak at the seven places you have named, and at your own times, provided you name the times at once, so that I, as well as you, can have to myself, the time not covered by the arrangement– As to other details, I wish perfect reciprocity, and no more– I wish as much time as you, and that conclusions shall alternate–That is all–
Your obedient Servant
A. Lincoln–
P.S. As matters now stand I shall be at no more of your exclusive meetings; and ^for^ about a week ^from to-day^ a letter from you will reach me at Springfield.
More, with annotations, at the NHPRC-supported Papers of Abraham Lincoln at https://papersofabrahamlincoln.org/documents/D201064
Dance Regrant in Utah
The Utah State Historical Records Advisory Board, administered by the Utah Division of Archives and Records Service, has announced Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) as a recipient of its Fall 2024 grant funding to preserve and provide access to Utah’s history.
Founded in 1966 in Salt Lake City, RDT is a professional modern dance company dedicated to the creation, performance, perpetuation and appreciation of modern dance. Known worldwide for its collection of dance treasures, RDT is both a museum and contemporary gallery representing the scope and diversity of modern dance, past and present. From the early pioneers of the art form to today’s cutting-edge choreographers, the company maintains one of the largest collections of modern dance classics in the world.
RDT was awarded $7,500 for the inventory, assessment, and cataloging of 58 years of historical dance videos and records that trace the growth of the company, the arts in Salt Lake City, and the national story of American modern dance. This work will identify priorities for future preservation activities and create finding aids for researchers, educators, and students to access RDT’s collection by request. This project is part of a multi-year plan to celebrate RDT’s 60th anniversary in 2026, preserve the diverse legacy of American modern dance, and make primary source materials available for inquiries into dance history, theory, and literature in the Mountain West.
The USHRAB’s grant program is funded by a State Board Programming Grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission at the National Archives. The USHRAB assists public and private non-profits, as well as non-Federal government entities throughout the State of Utah in the preservation and use of historical records.
See more about the Utah state historical records advisory board at https://ushrab.org
Jefferson’s States
We love this 1785 map from the Richard H. Brown Revolutionary War Map Collection at Mount Vernon, for it is the first known published map to show Thomas Jefferson's proposed state names in the Northwest: Sylvania, Michigania, Cheronesus, Assenisippis, Metropotamia, and more. 
You can read the report on Founders Online at https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-06-02-0420-0004.
The digital copy of the map is part of the ARGO project, supported by the NHPRC. And you can take a close-up look at https://www.argomaps.org/maps/commonwealth:z603vt312/
ARGO: American Revolutionary Geographies Online is a new project led by the Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library and the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon. Leveraging new technology and the recent drive by many museums, libraries, and archives to digitize their collections, the portal collates digitized maps of North America made between 1750 and 1800 into a single user-friendly portal. In addition to providing users from many backgrounds with easy, intuitive access to beautiful high-resolution images, ARGO seeks to give users of all kinds the tools they need to learn and understand through interpretive essays, curated collections, classroom materials, and more.
ARGO is at https://www.argomaps.org/
Whaling Logbooks and Journals
Of the many editions of "Moby-Dick," perhaps our favorite is the Arion Press version, illustrated by Barry Moser.
Herman Melville (1819-1891) is best known for "Moby-Dick," the tale of Captain Ahab's mad and obsessive pursuit of the legendary white sperm whale. Drawing on his own life as a sailor, the book was a commercial failure and nearly ruined Melville. His work was nearly forgotten for the last 30 years of his life.
A "Melville Revival" in the 1920s brought about a critical reassessment of his work. "Moby-Dick" is now recognized as an American classic and has been widely reprinted over the decades. If you tackle the masterpiece, you will learn a lot about whales and the (thankfully, abandoned) whaling industry.
Now, the NHPRC will fund the New Bedford Whaling Museum's project digitizing approximately 348,000 pages from 1,200 whaling logbooks and journals, spanning from 1669 to 1977. The logbooks and journals detail not only how many whales were taken and where, but also describe unique interactions with coastal and islander communities and Indigenous nations and tribal groups, historical weather data, and information about crew members.
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