Humanities Collections and Reference Resources | 20220719 PW

Humanities Collections and Reference Resources (NEH) - FAQs

1) What is the Humanities Collections and Reference Resources program?

The Humanities Collections and Reference Resources program is a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant opportunity administered through the Division of Preservation and Access. It funds projects that strengthen the foundations of humanities scholarship, teaching, and public-facing humanities work by improving how cultural and humanities materials are preserved, organized, described, and made available for use.

2) What is the main purpose of this grant opportunity?

The core purpose is to extend the reach of humanities collections and make the intellectual content of those collections broadly accessible to researchers, educators, students, and the general public. The program emphasizes practical improvements that help people discover, navigate, and use humanities materials more effectively.

3) What types of projects does the program support?

Based on the information provided, the program supports projects that improve the infrastructure humanities work depends on, including efforts to preserve materials, organize them, describe them, and make them available for use. It also supports building reference resources that help audiences interpret and use cultural materials more easily and intelligently.

4) What does "increasing access to humanities collections" mean in this program?

Increasing access can include activities that enhance discovery and usability of materials through better description, improved organization, or other methods that enable audiences to find and work with content more effectively. The focus is on making collections easier to locate, understand, and use.

5) What are "reference resources" in the context of this opportunity?

Reference resources are tools or resources that help people use cultural materials more easily and more intelligently. They can range from tools that provide quick, basic facts to more advanced resources that pull together, standardize, and synthesize knowledge in a field, supporting deeper investigation and more sophisticated research.

6) Is this grant focused only on collections, or can it fund reference tools too?

It supports both. The opportunity has a major emphasis on increasing access to humanities collections, and it also supports the creation of reference resources that make cultural and historical materials easier to interpret and use.

7) Who administers this NEH program?

The program is administered through the NEH Division of Preservation and Access.

8) What kind of grant program is this?

This is a discretionary grant program within the humanities funding category.

9) What is the Funding Opportunity Number and Assistance Listing for this grant?

The Funding Opportunity Number is 20220719 PW, and the CFDA/Assistance Listing is 45.149.

10) Who is eligible to apply?

Eligible applicants include a wide range of public and nonprofit entities, including:

• State governments
• County governments
• City or township governments
• Special district governments
• Public and state-controlled institutions of higher education
• Private institutions of higher education
• Federally recognized Native American tribal governments
• Nonprofit organizations with IRS 501(c)(3) status (excluding higher education institutions in that nonprofit category, since higher education institutions are listed separately)

11) Are colleges and universities eligible?

Yes. Public and state-controlled institutions of higher education and private institutions of higher education are listed as eligible applicants.

12) Are nonprofit organizations eligible?

Yes. Nonprofit organizations with IRS 501(c)(3) status are eligible, with the note that higher education institutions are treated separately under their own eligibility categories.

13) Are tribal governments eligible?

Yes. Federally recognized Native American tribal governments are included in the eligible applicant types.

14) What is the maximum award amount?

The award ceiling for this program is $350,000.

15) How many awards did NEH expect to make?

NEH anticipated making about 35 awards under this particular cycle.

16) When was this opportunity posted?

The opportunity was posted with a creation date of April 7, 2022.

17) What was the original application deadline?

The original application deadline was July 19, 2022.

18) What kinds of outcomes is NEH looking for from funded projects?

Overall, the program is aimed at projects that meaningfully improve the infrastructure that humanities work depends on. That can include expanding access to important collections, improving how collections are documented and navigated, and building reference tools that make cultural and historical materials easier to interpret and use in scholarship, education, and public programming.

19) Who benefits from the projects supported by this grant?

The program is designed to make humanities collections broadly accessible to researchers, educators, students, and the general public by improving preservation, organization, description, and availability of materials.

20) What is the overall focus area of this funding opportunity?

This funding opportunity sits within the humanities funding category and focuses on strengthening humanities scholarship, teaching, and public humanities work by improving access to and usability of cultural and humanities collections and related reference resources.