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 newspapers, and create educational materials and/or other digital initiatives to increase the use of Chronicling America.

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.

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.

This program has no statutory formula. Matching requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Fiscal Year2023: You can find past recipients of Preservation & Access awards using the NEH's Funded Projects Query Form, available online at https://securegrants.neh.gov/publicquery/main.aspx.Fiscal Year2025: The Oregon Digital Newspaper Program (ODNP) will digitize 100,000 pages of historic Oregon newspaper content for inclusion in NDNP’s Chronicling America website, focusing on titles related to four interconnected themes: (1) labor movements, (2) faith communities, (3) racial, ethnic, and linguistic minorities, and (4) enhanced geographical and chronological coverage.