What We Fund    (Note: What We Don't Fund)

I. The Commission funds projects that deal with the following kinds of documentary source material:

• records of state, county, municipal, tribal, or other non-Federal units of government
  
  
• manuscripts, personal and family papers, or organizational and business archives
  
  
• collections of photographs, motion pictures, sound recordings, electronic records, and/or such visual materials as unpublished architectural, cartographic, and engineering drawings

The Commission funds projects that focus on the following activities authorized in the NHPRC statute:

• collecting, describing, preserving, compiling, and publishing (including microfilming and other forms of reproduction) documentary sources significant to the history of the United States
  
  
• undertaking projects seeking solutions to the various questions in the Commission's research agenda on electronic records
  
  
• conducting institutes, training and educational programs, and fellowships related to the activities of the Commission
  
  
• disseminating information about documentary sources through guides, directories, and other technical publications
  
  
• or more generally: documentary editing and publishing; archival preservation and processing of records for access; developing or updating descriptive systems; creation and development of archival and records management programs; development of standards, tools, and techniques to advance the work of archivists, records managers, and documentary editors; and promotion of the use of records by teachers, students, and the public.

What We Do Not Fund    (Note: What We Do Fund)

II. The Commission does NOT fund projects to undertake the following activities:

• to construct, renovate, furnish, or purchase a building or land
  
  
• to purchase manuscripts or other historical records
  
  
• to conserve or exhibit archaeological artifacts, museum objects, or works of art
  
  
• to undertake historical research apart from the editing of documentary publications
  
  
• to undertake an oral history project unrelated to Native Americans
  
  
• to acquire, preserve, or describe books, periodicals, or other library materials
  
  
• to acquire, preserve, or describe art objects, sheet music, or other works primarily of value as works of art or entertainment
  
  
• to undertake a documentary editing project to publish the papers of someone who has been deceased for fewer than ten years
  
  
• to undertake a project centered on the papers of an appointed or elected public official who remains in major office, or is politically active, or the majority of whose papers have not yet been accessioned in a repository
  
  
• to process documents, most of which will be closed to researchers for more than five years, or not be accessible to all users on equal terms, or will be in a repository that denies public access
  
  
• to undertake an arrangement, description, or preservation project in which the pertinent documents are privately owned or deposited in an institution subject to withdrawal upon demand for reasons other than requirements of law
  
  
• to undertake arrangement, description, or preservation projects involving Federal government records that are (a) in the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), or (b) in the custody of some other Federal agency, or (c) have been deposited in a non-Federal institution without an agreement authorized by NARA. Many Federally funded activities not undertaken by the government itself produce documents that may in law be considered Federal records, including records produced under Federal contracts or grants. If your project deals with Federal records, you should talk further with the NHPRC staff.