Promotion of the Humanities Division of Preservation and Access

This program supports enhanced free, public access to historical U.S. newspapers. Recipients will digitize newspapers published in U.S. states or jurisdictions for ingest into Chronicling America, produce title essays to accompany digitized newspaper

The National Digital Newspaper Program is a partnership between NEH and the Library of Congress (LOC) to create a national digital resource of historically significant newspapers published between 1690 and 1963 from all 56 states and U.S. jurisdictions. LOC will permanently maintain this freely accessible, searchable online database.

Eligible applicants include U.S. nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, public and 501(c)(3) accredited institutions of higher education, state and local governmental agencies, and federally recognized Native American Tribal governments.

U.S. nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, public and 501(c)(3) accredited institutions of higher education, state and local governmental agencies, and federally recognized Native American Tribal governments.

Up to 36 months. See B. Federal Award Information in the relevant Notice of Funding Opportunity for program specific information.

Applicants are encouraged to contact NEH program officers, who can offer advice about preparing the proposal and review preliminary proposal drafts if they are submitted at least six weeks before the deadline. Time constraints may prevent staff from reviewing draft proposals submitted after that date. Staff comments are not part of the formal review process and have no bearing on the final outcome of the proposal, but applicants have found them helpful in strengthening their applications. Draft proposals are optional; they should be submitted by e-mail attachment to preservation@neh.gov.

NEH uses the following criteria to determine funding priorities: the significance and potential impact of the project, either for preserving and establishing intellectual access to important humanities resources or for improving the infrastructure for preservation and access activities in the country's academic and cultural institutions; the soundness of the project's methodology, including its adherence to accepted professional and technical standards or practice; the viability, efficiency, and productivity of the project's plan of work; the professional training and experience of the project's staff in relation to the activity for which support is requested; and the appropriateness of the project's budget. NEH gives preference to projects that provide free, online access to digital materials produced with grant funds. See E1. Review Criteria of the relevant Notice of Funding Opportunity for detailed criteria.

NEH staff review all applications for eligibility, completeness, and responsiveness. The agency then conducts a peer review process for all applications that pass this initial screening. Peer reviewers are experts in their fields with knowledge and expertise relevant to the activities that the program supports. NEH instructs peer reviewers to evaluate applications according to established review criteria. Peer reviewers must comply with federal ethics rules governing conflicts of interest. NEH program officers supplement the peer reviewers' comments to address matters of fact or significant points that the peer reviewers have overlooked. They then make funding recommendations to the National Council on the Humanities and the NEH Chairman. The National Council meets at least twice each year to review applications and advise the NEH Chairman. By law, the Chair has the sole authority to make final funding decisions.

Varies by program; see https://www.neh.gov/divisions/preservation.

Approximately 9-12 months after the application deadline.

NEH processes and awards renewal grants in competition with and in the same manner as new applications.