Publications grants support projects intended to make widely available those documentary source materials important to the study and understanding of United States history. In order to receive a publications grant, a project must intend to publish historical records of national value and interest.

(a) The Commission provides grants for publishing papers of United States leaders and historical records relating to outstanding events, topics, themes, or movements of national significance in United States history. These projects include the production of:

(1) Documentary editions that involve collecting, compiling, transcribing, editing, annotating, and publishing, either selectively or comprehensively, historical papers and records;

(2) Microfilm editions consisting of organized collections of images of original sources, usually without transcription and annotations;

(3) Electronic editions consisting of organized collections of images of original editions. Electronic editions may include transcriptions and/or annotations and other data to facilitate document discovery;

(4) Electronic editions of transcribed and annotated documents, including electronic republications of hard copy editions; and

(5) Any combination of editions specified in paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(4) of this section.

(b) The Commission may also support projects to develop methods, tools, techniques, and practices to improve and advance the documentary editing profession in the United States, and to support projects that apply information technology to publishing projects.

(c) The Commission may also support subvention grants to nonprofit presses to help defray publication costs of NHPRC-supported or endorsed editions.

(d) The Commission may also support fellowships, institutes, and other professional development opportunities related to this program.

(e) Detailed programmatic requirements established by the Commission are found in the grant opportunity announcements.

(a) The Commission does not support:

(1) Historical research apart from what is necessary for editing documentary publications; or

(2) Documentary editing projects to publish the papers of someone who has been deceased for fewer than ten years.

(b) Other programmatic limitations established by the Commission are found in the grant opportunity announcements and the NHPRC Web site.