[Preservenw] NEH Division of Preservation and Access

[Gary Menges]

Date: 25 Aug 2008
From: Barbara Paulson <bpaulson [at] neh__gov>
Subject: Nadina Gardner appointed Director of NEH Division of
             Preservation and Access

Nadina Gardner has been chosen to be Director of the National
Endowment for the Humanities' Division of Preservation and Access.
She has served as Acting Director of the division since June, and
has served as a Senior Program Officer for nearly four years.
Earlier in her NEH career she was a program officer in the Division
of Research Programs.  In addition to her service at the Endowment,
she brings to her new position a broad range of experience in the
humanities.  She was the Assistant Director for Libraries and
Archives with Heritage Preservation as well as the Assistant to the
Director of The Research Libraries of The New York Public Library,
with responsibilities for coordinating long-range planning in the
four research libraries.  She holds an A.B. magna cum laude in
English and American literature from Harvard University and a Ph.D.
in English literature from the University of California, Berkeley.

Date: 25 Aug 2008
From: Barbara Paulson <bpaulson [at] neh__gov>
Subject: NEH grants

NEH's Division of Preservation and Access funds projects that
preserve and create intellectual access to cultural resources of
importance for research, education, and public programming in the
humanities.

Categories of support include:

     Humanities Collections and Resources
     <URL:http://www.neh.gov/
         grants/guidelines/Collections_and_Resources.html>

         Applicants may define a significant corpus of cultural
         materials that are important to the humanities and present a
         plan of work for preservation and access compatible with the
         nature and condition of the materials and their eventual
         use.

         Projects may encompass collections of books, journals,
         newspapers, manuscript and archival materials, maps, still
         and moving images, sound recordings, art, and material
         culture held by libraries, archives, museums, historical
         organizations, and other repositories.

         Activities eligible for funding include digitizing
         collections, preservation reformatting, conservation
         treatment, deacidification of collections, arranging and
         describing archival and manuscript collections, and
         cataloging of print and non-print humanities source
         materials.

         Support may also be requested to create databases and
         electronic archives, descriptive catalogs, dictionaries,
         encyclopedias, tools for spatial analysis and
         representation, digital tools designed to develop or use
         humanities resources, and other types of research tools and
         reference works.

         A limited number of awards may be provided for research and
         development projects that address issues of major
         significance to libraries, archives, and museums (such as
         efforts that help establish standards or a consensus of best
         practice for the use of digital technology to preserve or
         enhance access to humanities resources).

     Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions
     <URL:http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/pag.html>

         This category has been designed for small and mid-size
         institutions to enhance their capacity to care for their
         humanities collections.  Grants of up to $6000 are available
         for preservation assessments, consultations with a
         preservation professional to address a specific preservation
         problem or to create a disaster response plan, attendance at
         preservation workshops, and the purchase of basic storage
         supplies or equipment.

     Education and Training
     <URL:http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/pet.html>

         These grants support national or regional (multi-state)
         education and training programs on the care and management
         of, and the creation of intellectual access to, library,
         archival, and material culture collections.  Educational
         programs may focus on disaster preparedness and response;
         collections care training; graduate programs in preservation
         and conservation; the skills and knowledge required to
         provide or enhance intellectual access to humanities
         collections; and preservation field services that serve a
         multi-state region and provide surveys, consultations,
         workshops, reference services, and informational materials
         to the staff of institutions responsible for the care of
         humanities collections.

     National Digital Newspaper Program
     <URL:http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/ndnp.html>

         Based on the accomplishments of the United States Newspaper
         Program (USNP), which supported cataloging and microfilming
         of the newspapers published in this country since 1690, the
         division began in 2005 the National Digital Newspaper
         Program (NDNP). Awards to state projects will fund
         digitization of selected microfilmed titles to provide
         enhanced access to state newspapers through a digital
         repository maintained by the Library of Congress.

     Documenting Endangered Languages (In Collaboration with the
     National Science Foundation)
     <URL:http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/del.html>

         Awards are made to conduct fieldwork and other activities
         relevant to recording, documenting, and archiving endangered
         languages, including the preparation of lexicons, grammars,
         text samples, and databases.

The division's staff encourages potential applicants to discuss
ideas for preservation and access projects and to confirm a
project's eligibility for support well in advance of a deadline. The
staff will read draft proposals (except for Preservation Assistance
Grants) and comment on the extent to which the narrative and budget
contain the information required by evaluators to assess the
project's importance and viability. Draft proposals are encouraged
at least six weeks before a deadline.  Applications are evaluated by
scholars in the humanities, professionals with expert knowledge of
preservation and access methodologies, and administrators of
libraries, archives, and museums.

Guidelines:  Application guidelines, for this and other NEH
divisions, are available at

     <URL:http://www.neh.gov/grants/grantsbydivision.html>