Grants & Awards: DHP: FAQs:

Documentary Heritage Program FAQs

Project Content

• Does the project have to address one of DHP's specific Topical Priorities?
• How should I go about making the best case for my Priority Level III topic?
• Can an Arrangement & Description grant be for work on more than one collection?
• Can Arrangement & Description projects include re-housing of records?
• How does an Archival Needs Assessment project differ from a Documentation project?
• Can we do a Documentation project of organizations in our community and also arrange and describe records in our collection relevant to the documentation topic in one grant?Do I need to have people chosen for staffing the project before applying for the grant?
• Can I move one of my regular employees over to the grant project?
• Can I count my project advisory committee's time as part of my institutional match?
• Can a member of a project advisory committee be from outside New York State?Can a donation to our institution that was not designated for any specific function but subsequently used for something related to the proposed project be considered part of our Cost Share requirement?
• Can my organization’s trustees work on the project, with their time allocated as part of the institutional Cost Share?
• Does DHP fund the arrangement and description of business collections?
• Does DHP fund the arrangement and description of “artificial” collections? 

 

Project Content

Does our project have to address one of DHP's specific Topical Priorities?

No, but projects addressing those topics (population groups in the 20th and 21st Centuries, de-industrialization and economic revitalization in the 20th Century, World Trade Center disaster/September 11, 2001, education policy, environmental affairs and mental health) will be considered more highly for grant money. Your project, however, must fall under one of the grant categories (Documentation, Arrangement & Description, or Archival Needs Assessment)."

How should I go about making the best case for my Priority Level III topic?
My project is about an under-documented New York State topic yet it does not fall within either of the first two priorities. In section #I b (Project Description, Topical Priorities) of the Application Narrative Form make a case statement which explicitly describes what your topic is; then explain the topic, how it fits into a bigger story, i.e. the history of New York State in the 20th century; and why you feel it is under-documented. For examples of case statements, review how the topics in Priority Levels I and II have been contextualized.

Can an Arrangement & Description grant be for work on more than one collection?
Yes, Arrangement & Description projects can focus on one collection or on multiple ones.

Can Arrangement & Description projects include re-housing of records?
Yes. In fact, this is an excellent time to re-house collections you are processing.

How does an Archival Needs Assessment differ from a Documentation project?
Archival Needs Assessment projects are targeted at institutions just getting started in dealing with their historical records and are intended to review the institution’s records as a whole. A Documentation project is not targeted at any specific institution but intended to help one or more institutions to document an underdocumented group or topic.

Can we do a Documentation project of organizations in our commuity and also arrange and describe records in our collection relevant to the documentation topic in one grant?

Yes, a single DHP grant application can cover both project categories, but you must discuss this with DHP staff to review how to address the differing matching requirements.

Do I need to have people chosen for staffing the project before applying for the grant?

The project director and members of advisory committees should be chosen and named in the application. Other staff may be found after receiving the grant. However, if you do have the others chosen at the time of application, name them and attach their resumes.

Can I move one of my regular employees over to the grant project?

The answer to this question depends on whether you intend to pay the employee with grant funds or whether the salary will be part of your institutional match.

• Awarded funds cannot be used to pay salary for regular staff, even if they are contributing to the project. Awarded funds may be used to hire new staff or increase work hours of existing staff to carry out project-related work (e.g., the employee is normally part-time and adds hours to his or her duties for grant work). If existing staff are paid with grant funds, then the applicant must demonstrate that the staff will be replaced in their former assignments with non-grant funds. (e.g. Joe is a full-time employee at the historical society. Half of his time will be spent working on the grant. Rather than hire someone to do the project-related work, the society hires a temporary worker to relieve Joe from his regular duties.)
• Regular staff salary and benefits can however be counted towards the Cost Share for the portion of work that relates directly to the grant project (e.g., a receptionist answering calls about the project: That person's salary and benefits can be considered part of the cost share). Remember to include all employee contributions on the Cost Share Form, even if a very small amount of time is devoted to the project.
  

Can I count my project advisory committee's time as part of my institutional match?

Yes, as long as it is time directly contributed to the project. Be prepared to document their contribution on the Cost Share Form. For example, if you plan on having four four-hour advisory meetings, then each committee member is contributing two days of time. Using a standard consultant rate of $250/day, each member is contributing $500 in matching costs. You can also use advisory committee members' mileage to attend meetings as part of your institutional contribution.

Can a member of a project advisory committee be from outside New York State?
There is no prohibition to having an advisory committee member from outside New York State, but since DHP grant projects must have a New York State focus, applicants should explain what this particular advisory committee member can contribute to the overall project that someone more locally-based cannot.

Can a donation to our institution that was not designated for any specific function but subsequently used for something related to the proposed project be considered part of our Cost Share requirement?
Yes.

Can my organization's trustees work on the project, with their time allocated as part of the institutional cost-share?
Yes. The time that anyone donates to the project can be considered part of your cost-sharing requirement.

Does DHP fund the arrangement and description of business collections?
It will, but since DHP only funds organizations with not-for-profit status, the collection would have to be in the possession of a not -or-profit repository. And that repository would have to provide public access to the collection. 

Does DHP fund the arrangement and description of “artificial” collections? 
A key characteristic of importance to an archivist, and which artificial collections don't have, is provenance. That is, in a collection with provenance, there is a direct line back to the entity (person, organization, business, etc) which created, used and ultimately discarded the records. This connection allows the archivist and the researcher to understand the richness and complexity of the organization (or person) as it has been captured in the course of doing business (or living a life in the case of a personal collection), by those most closely involved. Provenance can never be created after-the-fact which explains the why an artificial collection is a less valuable historical record, and although eligible for funding, an artificial collection is less compelling as the focus of a DHP grant application.