Grants & Awards: LGRMIF: Grant Application & Reference Material: Grant Project Categories:

Educational Uses of Local Government Records

You may propose projects to use local government records as teaching tools in the classroom and in the community. Projects may include teacher training workshops, development of curriculum materials, community walking tours, and local history brochures and exhibits.

At the conclusion of an educational uses grant, you must demonstrate how the project helped address the State Education Department’s learning standards, promoted the management of local government records, or increased public awareness of the educational and historical value of these records. Also describe ongoing cooperation among local governments, teachers and students, and/or the general public. In addition, the State Archives encourages project participants to conduct workshops or information sessions for K–12, college, and community educational programs on the benefits of using local government records.  If you are considering an Educational Uses grant, direct your questions to either your RAO or Julie Daniels at (518) 474-6926.

NOTE: Consider the Source: Historical Records in the Classroom, a State Archives publication, cannot be purchased with funds from this granting source. 

The average grant award for Educational Uses projects is $10,000.

Activities Eligible for Support

a)  Teacher Training. Projects will develop programs to train teachers in the use of local government records as teaching tools in the classroom. You are encouraged to cooperate with university faculty and pre-service teachers.   Strong preference will be given to projects that offer teachers in-service credit from individual school districts, or graduate credit from colleges and universities, rather than stipends for attending training workshops. If you are requesting stipends, you must justify the amount according to relevant union contracts.

The project should include the following participants:

• Teachers/trainers who are skilled in using local government records in the classroom, who will instruct other teachers, and who will provide guidance during site visits
• Local government officials who will describe their respective local governments, their duties, types of records, and how to access those records
• Participating teachers, generally fifteen to twenty teachers per one-week training session

b) Brochures, Exhibits, and Walking Tours. Projects may include the development of educational brochures, exhibits, and walking tours that contribute to the public’s understanding of records management and the educational value of local government records. Projects should include plans for product marketing and evaluation. It is suggested that projects be linked to K–12 education by relating to a particular curriculum or discipline, or through the development of learning activities that may be used with the brochure, exhibit, or walking tour.

c)Document Teaching Packets and Accompanying Teachers’ Guides. A document teaching packet is a collection of documents relating to a particular topic, accompanied by a teacher’s guide, that provides historical background on the topic and suggests how to incorporate the documents into classroom instruction. The teacher’s guide can include items on how to use the documents with students, such as worksheets, constructed-response and document-based questions, suggested additional reading, resource lists, and bibliographies.

d) Technology, Local Government Records, and Education. Projects can employ multi-media technology that allows educators, students, and others to incorporate local government records in the learning process.  You may use grant funds to support the purchase of scanners, digital cameras, and computers if you appropriately justify the need for this equipment in your application.  Requests for multiple pieces of equipment are discouraged. If you wish to purchase technology equipment with grant funds, show how the equipment:

• directly relates to using local government records in the classroom
• will continue to be used for educational uses of local government records or for records management after the completion of the grant cycle

e) Other Projects. You may propose other types of educational uses projects if you can demonstrate a project’s potential for long-term impact on both education and local government records management.

Category Requirements

• Local Government Records. Demonstrate substantive use of local government records. You may use non-government records such as business, community organization, and church records, as well as historical records from a local historical society and library, where such use meets an important informational need.
• Objectives. Address how the proposed project will support both your overall records management objectives and the State Education Department’s learning standards.
• Experience. Clearly demonstrate that grant participants have some knowledge or background in the use of local government records in education.  This may include:
  • Experience conducting research at a local government and developing educational materials based on that research.  Demonstrate such experience by including a statement about the kinds of records used and how they were used, or a copy of a lesson plan or teaching packet based on local government records.
  • Participation in a workshop, such as “Primarily Teaching,” offered by the National Archives and Records Administration.
  • Participation in a training workshop on how to use local government records in the classroom.
  • Intention to hire a consultant for the project who has expertise in teaching with local government records.
• Letters of Support. If you intend to use records of local governments other than your own, you should involve these governments in the early stages of preparing the grant application. Submit a letter of support from each local government indicating its intent to participate and outlining its responsibilities in the project. The letter should be sufficiently detailed so it is clear to reviewers that each local government understands its role.
• Distribution Plan. Include a plan in the application narrative for the distribution of materials produced.  Submit to the State Archives a copy of all reports, teaching materials, and packets produced with grant funds.  Also distribute final products to all local governments whose records were used, to local governments whose staffs participated in planning or training sessions, to participating teachers, to the school district libraries of participating teachers, and to appropriate community, educational, and research institutions.
  • Post-Grant Support. Local governments must show how they will provide post-grant support for this project/program.