Common Heritage

Post Date

March 11th 2016

Application Due Date

May 12th 2016

Funding Opportunity Number

20160512-PY

CFDA Number(s)

45.149

Funding Instrument Type(s)

Grant

Funding Activity Categories

Humanities

Eligibility Categories

State Governments
County Governments
City or Township Governments
Special District Governments
Public and State Controlled Institutions of Higher Education
Federally Recognized Native American Tribal Governments
Non-Profits With 501 (c) (3) Status With The IRS (Except Higher Education Institutions)
Non-Profits Without 501 (c) (3) Status With The IRS (Except Higher Education Institutions)
Private Institutions of Higher Education

Funding

• Award Range:

  $1 - $12000

Grant Description

Americaмs cultural heritage is preserved not only in libraries, museums, archives, and other community organizations, but also in all of our homes, family histories, and life stories. The Common Heritage program aims to capture this vitally important part of our countryмs heritage and preserve it for future generations. Common Heritage will support both the digitization of cultural heritage materials and the organization of public programming at community events that explore these materials as a window on a communityмs history and culture. The Common Heritage program recognizes that members of the public└in partnership with libraries, museums, archives, and historical organizations└have much to contribute to the understanding of our cultural mosaic. Together, such institutions and the public can be effective partners in the appreciation and stewardship of our common heritage. The program supports day-long events organized by community cultural institutions, which members of the public will be invited to attend. At these events experienced staff will digitize the community historical materials brought in by the public. Project staff will also record descriptive information└provided by community attendees└about the historical materials. Contributors will be given a free digital copy of their items to take home, along with the original materials. With the ownerмs permission, digital copies of these materials would be included in the institutionsм collections. Historical photographs, artifacts, documents, family letters, art works, and audiovisual recordings are among the many items eligible for digitization and public commemoration. Projects must also present public programming that would expand knowledge of the communityмs heritage. Public programs could include lectures, panels, reading and discussion, special gallery tours, screening and discussion of relevant films, presentations by a historian, special initiatives for families and children, or comments by curators about items brought in by the public, workshops on preserving heritage materials, or other activities that bring humanities perspectives on heritage materials to wide public audiences. These public programs should provide a framework for a deeper understanding of the community membersм shared or divergent heritage. The programs may take place before, during, and/or after the day of the digitization event. Applicants may but need not include in their proposals a topic around which the event and the public programming would be organized. Topics proposed for the public programming may also be proposed for the digitization event. The applicant institution must plan, promote, and organize the event and ensure that a wide range of historical materials can be digitized and also contextualized through public programming. Since the help of additional institutions and organizations in the community may be needed to accomplish this work, the applicant must take responsibility for enlisting appropriate organizations or institutions, such as local libraries and museums, to contribute to the project, as needed. NEH especially welcomes applications from small and medium-sized institutions that have not previously received NEH support.

Contact Information

• Agency

  National Endowment for the Humanities

• Office:

  None

• Agency Contact:

  Common Heritage
  National Endowment for the Humanities
  400 Seventh Street, SW
  Washington, DC 20506
  202-606-8570 or preservation@neh.gov
  
  
  preservation@neh.gov
  

• Agency Mailing Address:

  preservation@neh.gov

• Agency Email Address:

  preservation@neh.gov

• More Information:

  http://www.neh.gov/grants/preservation/common-heritage