NHPRC-Mellon Grant: Planning for Collaborative Digital Editions in Diverse History & Ethnic Studies

Collaboration
Grants are awarded to collaborative teams consisting of at least two scholar-editors, as well as one or more archivists, digital scholars, data curators, and/or other support and technical staff, as appropriate to fulfill the planning goals and prepare the project team for implementation at a later stage. We strongly encourage applications from collaborative teams that include diverse faculty and staff in key positions, and that include editorial, archival, and technical staff at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic- and Minority-Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges, and/or other Indigenous and Native American tribal scholars and community members, and members of the Asian American community. We also encourage projects to seek out community members as well as undergraduate and graduate students to contribute to (and benefit from) participation in all phases of the project planning.
What is a digital edition? How can I make the most of this planning opportunity?
Frequently based on a corpus of materials intentionally drawn from one or more (often dispersed) archival collections, digital edition projects do more than provide visual access through digitization and online publication. They provide intellectual access to and relevant contextualization for the specific documents and other historical materials that make up the edition’s corpus. In the broadest sense, digital editions are intentional, contextualized research collections created for the purpose of raising new questions and advancing new research and teaching in their respective fields of study. Because of the size, complexity (both human and technical), and duration of such projects, which may require up to 10 years or longer to reach final completion, extensive planning is essential for successful development of a collaborative digital edition project.
Eligible projects in this category are encouraged to focus their planning activities on the essentials, beginning with project conception and scope (including plans for understanding and incorporating target user community input); establishing a mutually-beneficial, respectful, and sustainable collaboration; securing long-term institutional support; establishing editorial workflow processes and associated staffing needs (for collecting, describing, preserving, compiling, transcribing, annotating, encoding, and publishing the edition); as well as long-term technical and financial sustainability, among other planning issues (see below).
Eligible activities in this category may include:
? Travel and related costs for planning meetings involving geographically-dispersed collaborations.
? Relevant training for project directors, staff, and participating community members, including (but not limited to) NHPRC-supported training opportunities.
? Associated costs for technical planning, wire-framing, and early testing and evaluation with target audience(s) to determine needs and priorities.
? For projects undertaking an extensive or supplementary document search, funds also may be used for initial surveying of undigitized collections, sample document imaging and collection, canvassing, community outreach, and related travel.

For a comprehensive list of Commission limitations on funding, please see: “What we do and do not fund” (http://www.archives.gov/nhprc/apply/eligibility.html).
Award Information
A grant is for up to two years and for up to $60,000 per year. The Commission expects to make up to 10 grants in this category for a total of up to $1,200,000. Planning Grants begin no earlier than January 1, 2024.
The Commission requires that grant recipients acknowledge NHPRC grant assistance in all publications, publicity, and other products that result from its support.
Eligibility
? U.S. nonprofit organizations or institutions
? U.S. colleges, universities, and other academic institutions
? State or local government agencies
? Federally-acknowledged or state-recognized Native American tribes or groups
Applications from and collaborations involving Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), and Tribal Colleges are strongly encouraged.
In order to ensure eligibility, applicants should first review the rules and regulations governing NHPRC grants under the Administering an NHPRC Grant section.
Cost Sharing
Cost sharing is not a requirement. However, the applicant’s financial contribution may include both direct and indirect expenses, in-kind contributions, non-Federal third-party contributions, and any income earned directly by the project.
NHPRC grant recipients are not permitted to use grant funds for indirect costs (as indicated in 2 CFR 2600.101). Indirect costs must be listed under the applicant’s cost sharing contribution if they are included in the budget.
Other Requirements
Applicant organizations must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) prior to submitting an application, maintain SAM registration throughout the application and award process, and include a valid Unique Entity ID (UEI) in their application. To register or request a Unique Entity ID, go to https://sam.gov. Already manage an entity that does business with the federal government? You may want to consult this article on the transition from DUNS to the Unique Entity ID. Ineligible applications will not be reviewed.