NHPRC-Mellon Planning Grants for Collaborative Digital Editions | DIGITALEDITIONS 202306

Opportunity Information: Apply for DIGITALEDITIONS 202306

The NHPRC-Mellon Planning Grants for Collaborative Digital Editions program is a National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) funding opportunity, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, aimed at helping teams plan major collaborative digital edition projects rooted in African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Native American history and ethnic studies. The larger purpose is to broaden who gets to shape and publish scholarly historical digital editions, with a strong emphasis on expanding participation by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color who are newer to documentary editing and who may be based in history, area studies, or ethnic studies departments. Just as importantly, the program wants applicants to rethink what a digital edition can be, including whose voices it centers, what questions it prioritizes, and how it serves both scholars and the communities connected to the historical record.

The program is specifically for planning, not full production. NHPRC is signaling that digital edition projects are often long-term efforts that can take a decade or more, involving complex editorial decisions, technical infrastructure, staffing, and sustained institutional backing. Because of that, the grant is designed to support the early work that makes later implementation realistic and responsible. Applicants are expected to use the planning period to define the project concept and scope, build shared agreements among partners, and develop a workable approach to editorial and technical methods. This includes mapping out workflows for tasks such as identifying and assembling a corpus, description and metadata, preservation planning, transcription, annotation, encoding, and online publication, along with realistic staffing plans and long-term sustainability strategies.

A key feature of this opportunity is collaboration, both in staffing and in relationships across institutions and communities. Collaboration Grants are meant for teams with at least two scholar-editors, plus additional partners such as archivists, digital humanities specialists, data curators, and other technical or support staff as needed. NHPRC strongly encourages teams that place diverse faculty and staff in meaningful leadership roles, and it particularly encourages participation from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Minority-Serving Institutions, and Tribal Colleges, as well as Indigenous and Native American tribal scholars and community members and members of the Asian American community. The program also encourages applicants to build pathways for community members and undergraduate and graduate students to participate in and benefit from the planning process, rather than treating public engagement as an afterthought.

NHPRC also clarifies what it means by a "digital edition" in this context. It is not simply scanning and putting materials online. A digital edition is framed as an intentional, contextualized research collection that provides intellectual access, meaning it helps users interpret what they are seeing through careful selection, explanatory context, and editorial framing. The idea is to create a structured body of primary sources that can raise new questions, support new scholarship, and improve teaching, particularly in fields related to African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Native American histories and ethnic studies. In practice, that often means drawing from one or more archival collections, sometimes dispersed across repositories, and making editorial choices that guide how the material is understood and used.

The grant can support practical planning needs that are common barriers to launching a serious digital edition. Allowable activities include travel and related expenses for planning meetings when collaborators are geographically dispersed; training for project directors, staff, and participating community members (including NHPRC-supported training opportunities); technical planning work such as wireframing, prototyping, and early testing; and evaluation activities with target audiences to determine needs and priorities. If a project requires an extensive search for materials or needs to identify and assess relevant holdings, funds may also be used for surveying undigitized collections, capturing sample images, canvassing for materials, and conducting community outreach, including associated travel.

In terms of award size and duration, these planning grants can run for up to two years, with funding up to $60,000 per year. NHPRC expects to make up to 10 awards in this category, for a total program amount of up to $1.2 million. Funded projects can begin no earlier than January 1, 2024. Recipients must acknowledge NHPRC support in publications, publicity, and other products that result from the grant.

Eligibility is broad across U.S.-based public and nonprofit sectors, including U.S. nonprofit organizations and institutions, colleges and universities, state or local government agencies, and federally acknowledged or state-recognized Native American tribes or groups. The source data also lists eligible applicant types such as state, county, and city or township governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; and 501(c)(3) nonprofits (excluding universities where applicable). While not required, collaborations involving HBCUs, HSIs, MSIs, and Tribal Colleges are explicitly encouraged as a way to promote equitable capacity building and address long-standing institutional resource gaps.

Cost sharing is not required, which lowers the barrier to entry for institutions with limited resources. However, applicants may still include cost sharing in the budget in the form of direct or indirect expenses, in-kind contributions, third-party non-federal contributions, or project income. One important budgeting constraint is that NHPRC funds cannot be used for indirect costs under the cited federal regulation (2 CFR 2600.101). If an applicant includes indirect costs, those must appear as part of the applicant's cost share rather than being charged to the grant.

Finally, there are standard federal application compliance requirements. Applicant organizations must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM), maintain active registration through submission and award, and include a valid Unique Entity ID (UEI) in the application. NHPRC notes that ineligible applications will not be reviewed, so confirming eligibility and administrative readiness (including SAM/UEI) is a practical early step for any team considering an application.

• The National Archives and Records Administration in the humanities (see cultural affairs in cfda) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NHPRC-Mellon Planning Grants for Collaborative Digital Editions" 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 Aug 08, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 07, 2023. (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 $60,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 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 DIGITALEDITIONS 202306

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