Public Engagement with Historical Records | ENGAGEMENT 202110

Opportunity Information: Apply for ENGAGEMENT 202110

The Public Engagement with Historical Records grant opportunity is offered by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), part of the National Archives and Records Administration, and it supports projects that help the public actively use and connect with historical records. The central goal is to move beyond simply preserving or digitizing materials and instead create practical, engaging ways for people to interact with primary sources, especially through online access and digital tools. A strong emphasis is placed on projects that produce reusable models, workflows, or technologies that other organizations can adopt freely, so proposals that can be replicated or scaled across institutions tend to fit the program especially well.

The opportunity encourages applicants to design creative approaches that introduce people to primary source materials and teach them how to interpret and use those materials in meaningful ways. Competitive projects often involve collaboration across fields, bringing together archivists, documentary editors, historians, educators, and community-based partners. NHPRC is clearly signaling that public engagement is strongest when it is built with both content expertise and audience-focused design, and when projects are grounded in real communities and learning environments rather than existing only as a single institution's isolated effort.

Several types of activities are highlighted as good fits. One common approach is recruiting and coordinating volunteer "citizen archivists" to help accelerate access to records, particularly digitized collections. This can include public-facing initiatives where volunteers tag items, transcribe handwritten documents, add annotations, identify people or places in images, or otherwise enrich descriptive information so collections become more searchable and usable. Another major category is education, including programs for K-12 classrooms, undergraduate courses, or community education settings that teach participants how to analyze and work with records already held by repositories or newly collected through the project. The program also supports projects that gather primary source materials directly from the public, such as community collection events or listening sessions, paired with facilitated discussions, exhibits, or websites that share results and encourage continued participation. In addition, NHPRC welcomes proposals that use historical records as springboards for artistic engagement, such as workshops where participants create performances, visual art, multimedia collages, or music inspired by or directly incorporating record facsimiles and historical texts. Finally, applicants can propose new technologies that promote sharing and discovery of information about historical records, as long as the outcome aligns with engagement and can serve as a model for broader adoption.

Funding is offered as discretionary grants, typically running one to three years. The commission expects to make up to five awards in a cycle, generally ranging from $50,000 to $150,000 each, with a total program allocation of up to $400,000. For the cycle described, awards would start no earlier than July 1, 2022, and the original application closing date listed is October 6, 2021. Recipients must acknowledge NHPRC support in any publications or products that result from the grant.

Eligibility covers a range of public and nonprofit entities, including nonprofit organizations and institutions, colleges and universities (public or private), state and local government agencies, and federally recognized or acknowledged, or state-recognized Native American tribes or groups. To be considered, a proposal must include at least one eligible activity aligned with the program's engagement focus, and it must include all required application components, including the SF-424, a narrative, the NHPRC budget form, and supplemental materials. Applications that fail to meet the eligibility/activity requirements or omit required elements are not considered, and applicants are encouraged to review NHPRC rules under the "Administering an NHPRC Grant" guidance and the agency's "What we do and do not fund" limitations to avoid proposing ineligible work.

A key practical feature of this program is that cost sharing is required. NHPRC will cover no more than 75 percent of total project costs, meaning the applicant must provide at least 25 percent through a mix of allowable contributions such as direct costs, in-kind support, qualifying third-party non-federal contributions, indirect costs contributed by the applicant, and project-generated income. Importantly, NHPRC funds cannot be used for indirect costs under the cited federal regulation (2 CFR 2600.101), so if indirect costs are part of the budget, they must appear on the applicant's cost-share side rather than being charged to the grant.

Administrative requirements include registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) before applying, maintaining active SAM registration throughout the review and award process, and providing a valid DUNS number in the application (with directions pointing applicants to www.sam.gov for registration guidance and user materials). Overall, the opportunity is designed for organizations that can combine strong historical content with public-facing program design, and that can produce shareable approaches other archives, libraries, schools, and community organizations can adapt.

• The National Archives and Records Administration in the humanities (see cultural affairs in cfda) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Public Engagement with Historical Records" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 89.003.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 20, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Oct 06, 2021. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $150,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 5 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for ENGAGEMENT 202110

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