The U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities' Division of Preservation and Access is pleased to announce the release of the 2022 Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Research and Development grant program.
This program offers two funding tiers in order to address projects at all stages of development and implementation. Tier I provides awards of up to $75,000 for a period of performance of up to two years and may include activities to plan for a larger-scale project; conduct case studies or laboratory experiments; refine standards, models, or tools; or adapt new or recently updated standards, methodologies, tools and equipment, or workflows for targeted institution types and audiences that help to ensure broad adoption by the field. Tier II provides awards of up to $350,000 for a period of performance of up to three years and supports applied research and the development of standards, practices, methodologies, or workflows for preserving and creating access to humanities collections.
The deadline for submission is May 17, 2022.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
The Research and Development program supports projects that address major challenges in preserving or providing access to humanities collections and resources. These challenges include the need to find better ways to preserve materials of critical importance to the nation's cultural heritage-from fragile artifacts and manuscripts to analog recordings and digital assets subject to technological obsolescence-and to develop advanced modes of organizing, searching, discovering, and using such materials.
Research and Development supports work on the entire range of humanities collection types including, but not limited to, moving image and sound recordings, archaeological artifacts, born digital and time-based media, rare books and manuscripts, archival records, material culture, and art. Applicants must demonstrate how advances in preservation and access through a Research and Development project would benefit the cultural heritage community by supporting humanities research, teaching, or public programming.
Research and Development projects are encouraged to address one or more of the following areas of special interest:
- Preserving our audiovisual and digital heritage
- Conserving our material past
- Protecting our cultural heritage
- Serving under-represented communities
- Responding to climate change
WHAT'S NEW FOR 2022
A new area of special interest encourages work investigating the impacts of climate change on heritage collections along with developing responses to advance sustainability and resilience.
A new category for Tier II Advanced Implementation projects supports topic or area studies in heritage preservation and access. Projects may propose some combination of convenings such as forums, symposia, workshops, or conferences; surveys; and other qualitative and quantitative modes of investigations that would result in publications; resources; guidelines; or agenda for collective action with substantial national or international interest.
CONTACTING NEH
Program officers will review draft proposals submitted by April 12, 2022. Program staff cannot respond to drafts submitted after this deadline. Although this optional preliminary review is not part of the formal review process and has no bearing on the final outcome of the proposal, previous applicants have found it helpful in strengthening their applications. If you choose to submit a draft proposal, send it as an attachment to preservation@neh.gov.
For additional information about the program, please visit https://www.neh.gov/grants/preservation/research-and-development or contact preservation@neh.gov. For more information about the program, you may refer to the webinar at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib3zNannXUI.
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Anne W. Ackerson
Communication + Development Coordinator
Council of State Archivists
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