UpFront with NGS: NEH

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09 January 2017

NEH Common Heritage Grant Applications Now Being Accepted (11 May 2017 Deadline)

NEH Common Heritage Grant Applications Now Being Accepted (11 May 2017 Deadline)

We first talked about this National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant program back in 2015, its inaugural year in National Endowment for the Humanities announces new “Common Heritage” grant program.

NEH invites historical societies, libraries, archives, museums, colleges and other local institutions to apply for the Common Heritage grant program, the first federal grant program of its kind. Grants will support day-long events, organized by community cultural institutions, in which members of the public will be invited to share materials important to their family or community histories, such as photographs, artifacts, family letters, and works of art.

It’s been exciting to see the projects funded by these grants. You can access a list of the so far 38 projects here or read the announcement from December 2015 of the initial winners.

The deadline for projects beginning January 2018 is 11 May 2017. Full details on the program, submission guidelines, application, and more are found here.

America’s 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 country’s 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 community’s history and culture.

What community or specific ethnic or cultural group or tradition would you like to see involved in this opportunity?

If your community or cultural group et al is one of the past recipients – please share about the funded project.

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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08 August 2016

NEH Announces Prize Winners -- Chronicling America Historic Newspaper Challenge

NEH Announces Prize Winners -- Chronicling America Historic Newspaper Challenge

We first shared with you about this challenge earlier this year in Chronicling America Data Challenge -- Prizes will be awarded! Basically, the National endowment for the Humanities (NEH) issued a challenge (with prizes) – “Create a web-based tool, data visualization, or other creative use of the information found in the Chronicling America historic newspaper database.”
We are excited to announce the winners of this challenge as reported in The NEH “Chronicling America” Challenge: Using Big Data to Ask Big Questions. Do read the article and/or follow the links provided to learn more about each of these projects. Congratulations to the winners.

The results are in. NEH has announced six open data challenge prize recipients. The winners will receive cash prizes and will attend the National Digital Newspaper Program annual September meeting in Washington, D.C. to present their work. We join with the Library of Congress in celebrating the questions and insights that can be gained from making open data and excellent primary sources accessible to the public.

And the winners are…

First Prize
American Public Bible: Biblical Quotations in U.S. Newspapers
Entry By: Lincoln Mullen, Assistant Professor, Department of History and Art History, George Mason University (Fairfax, VA)

Second Prize (Tie)
American Lynching: Uncovering a Cultural Narrative
Entry By: Andrew Bales, PhD Student in Creative Writing, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

Second Prize (Tie)
Historical Agricultural News
Entry By: Amy Giroux, Computer Research Specialist, Center for Humanities and Digital Research, University of Central Florida (Orlando, FL)

Third Prize (Tie)
Chronicling Hoosiers
Entry By: Kristi Palmer, Associate Dean of Digital Scholarship, Indiana University-Purdue University (Indianapolis, IN)

Third Prize (Tie)
USNewsMap.com
Entry By: Claudio Saunt, Professor, Department of History, Co-Director, Center for Virtual History and Associate Director, Institute of Native American Studies, University of Georgia (Athens, GA)

K-12 Student Prize
Digital APUSH: Revealing History with Chronicling America
Entry By: Teacher Ray Palin and A.P. U.S. History Students at Sunapee High School (Sunapee, NH)

Are there any other currently run competitions of interest to family historians that you know of?

Editor’s Note: Check out past Upfront with NGS articles on Chronicling America here and NEH here.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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26 January 2016

Chronicling America Data Challenge -- Prizes will be awarded!

We often talk about Chronicling America as a great resource for digitized newspaper content.

NEH has issued a challenge (with prizes!) -- Create a web-based tool, data visualization, or other creative use of the information found in the Chronicling America historic newspaper database. Here’s a snippet about this challenge.

... What are we looking for? NEH encourages contestants to develop data visualizations, web-based tools, or other innovative and interesting web-based projects using the open data found in Chronicling America. There are over ten million pages of digitized newspapers in Chronicling America, published between 1836 and 1922, from towns and cities across the United States. The newspapers illuminate 19^th- and 20^th-century American life, with stories about politics, sports, shopping, music, food, health, science, movies, and everything in between. Entries should uncover trends, display insights, explore a theme, or tell a story.

For example, entries using the Chronicling America newspaper data could:

· Show how local news in various places covered the World Series of baseball

· Trace the developing motion picture industry across the country

· Follow the enactment of amendments to the Constitution

· Show coverage of a historic political campaign in various locations

· Map the travels of a president across the country based on local news coverage

· Show changes in advertising logos or newspaper mastheads over time

· Track the price or adoption of consumer goods over time in different locations

· Explore tourism in different locations in the United States

· Discover how various regions of the country celebrated Thanksgiving at different times...

Full details can be found here. I also found this related read, NEH Invites Entries for the Chronicling America Data Challenge on the Blog of the American Historical Association interesting as it gave a couple of examples of projects “such as An Epidemiology of Information, which uses text mining to explore how information about the 1918 influenza pandemic spread, and Journalism’s Voyage West, a visualization of the growth and decline of newspapers in the US, have shown some of the possibilities offered by computational approaches to this digitized archive.”

Understanding historical context always benefits our family history research.

What neat project, based on Chronicling America, would you like to see undertaken?

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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05 November 2015

It's that time of year again! NEH is soliciting proposals for NDNP to add more to Chronicling America

We love newspapers, right? We especially love them when they are digitized and we can access them anytime from our current favorite computer or tech toy!

Every year National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) solicits proposals for participation in the National Digital Newspaper Program. The results of the accepted proposals are additional content which becomes part of Chronicling America. This is a great newspaper project which encompasses the years from 1836 to 1922. The goal of the program is to have newspapers from all U.S. states and territories included.

From NEH regarding the National Digital Newspaper Program ...

Division of Preservation and Access

Receipt Deadline January 14, 2016 for Projects Beginning September 2016

Brief Summary

NEH is soliciting proposals from institutions to participate in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). NDNP is creating a national digital resource of historically significant newspapers published between 1836 and 1922, from all the states and U.S. territories. This searchable database will be permanently maintained at the Library of Congress (LC) and will be freely accessible via the Internet. (See the website, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers.) An accompanying national newspaper directory of bibliographic and holdings information on the website directs users to newspaper titles available in all types of formats. During the course of its partnership with NEH, LC will also digitize and contribute to the NDNP database a significant number of newspaper pages drawn from its own collections.

NEH intends to support projects in all states and U.S. territories, provided that sufficient funds allocated for this purpose are available. One organization within each U.S. state or territory will receive an award to collaborate with relevant state partners in this effort. Previously funded projects will be eligible to receive supplements for continued work, but the program will give priority to new projects. In particular, the program will give priority to projects from states and territories that have not received NDNP funding.

Program Statistics

In the last five competitions the National Digital Newspaper Program received an average of seventeen applications per year. The program made an average of twelve awards per year, for a funding ratio of 71 percent.

Projects are typically based on statewide collaborations between major repositories of microfilm of historic newspapers and institutions with the technical capacity to launch long-term digitization efforts. On the one hand, this results in a relatively small number of applications each year. On the other hand, the quality of the applications tends to be very high, so that most applicants have historically received funding.

The number of applications to an NEH grant program can vary widely year to year, as can the success ratio. Information about the average number of applications and awards in recent competitions is meant only to provide historical context for the current competition. Information on the number of applications and awards in individual competitions is available from preservation@neh.gov.

More details about applying are available on this page.

An overview of the NDNP program is found here.

If you live in one of the few states not yet participating (see this map), this is your chance to contact local, university, or other possibly interested authorities and see if a grant proposal might result. Existing programs can also apply to add to what they have already made available.

It’s a great program and saves us from having to “picket” for more newspapers. Instead of chanting “We want more newspapers digitized” we can sit comfortable somewhere and explore the ever expanding collection which just a few weeks ago surpassed 10 million pages!

Editor’s Note: Previous Upfront with NGS blog posts on related topics:

+ Will Digital Newspaper Archives for ALL Newspapers Be Available to Our Descendants? (2015)

+ Chronicling America ... More and More Newspapers! (2011)

+ Digital Archive Provides Access to Historic Atlanta Newspapers (2010)

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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22 April 2015

National Endowment for the Humanities announces new “Common Heritage” grant program

Neat news out of Washington! NEH has announced a grant program called “Common Heritage” that will have our genealogical community rummaging through our attics, basements and personal archives for materials to get digitized and made available publicly for posterity!

Please bring this to the attention of your local historical society, library, archive or other institutions. The application deadline is 25 June 2015. The full press release is below.

Very exciting ...

WASHINGTON (April 20, 2015) — The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) today announced a new grant program, called “Common Heritage,” that will bring to light historical records and artifacts currently hidden in family attics and basements across the country and make them digitally available to the wider public and for posterity.

These items will be digitized, along with descriptive information and context provided by the community attendees. With the owner’s permission, the digitized materials will be made publicly available through the institution’s online collections. Contributors will receive a free digital copy of their items to take home, along with the original materials.

These materials will also be used for public programming – including lectures, exhibits, discussion programs, and film screenings – that celebrates and expands knowledge of the community’s past and the diverse histories of its members.

“We know that America’s cultural heritage isn’t found only in libraries and museums,” said NEH Chairman William Adams, “but in our homes, in our family histories, and the stories and objects we pass down to our children. NEH’s new Common Heritage grant program aims to capture this vitally important part of our country’s heritage and preserve it for future generations.”

Application guidelines and a list of FAQs for the Common Heritage program are available at www.neh.gov. The application deadline for the initial cycle of Common Heritage grants is June 25, 2015. The first round of Common Heritage digitization days is expected to take place in early 2016.

The new Common Heritage grant program is part of the National Endowment for the Humanities’ agency-wide initiative The Common Good: The Humanities in the Public Square, which seeks to demonstrate and enhance the role and significance of the humanities and humanities scholarship in public life.

NEH’s Common Heritage program will award grants of up to $12,000 to community cultural organizations to coordinate community events and ensure that a wide range of historical materials can be digitized and contextualized through public programming.

NEH program staff from the Divisions of Preservation & Access and Public Programs will conduct a webinar for interested applicants on Tuesday, May 5 at 4 PM (EST).

NEH Common Heritage grants webinar information:
May 5, 4-4:30 PM (EST)
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/232247517
Access code: 232-247-517
You can also dial in by phone at: (872) 240-3312

#nehcommonheritage

National Endowment for the Humanities: Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at: www.neh.gov.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

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03 May 2011

Library of Virginia Receives $155,071 NEH Grant to Scan Petersburg Chancery Records

The Library of Virginia has received a grant of $155,071 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (see press release and complete state-by-state listing of grants) to support the scanning of the City of Petersburg chancery records, a significant collection for researchers interested in the African American experience, women’s history, and southern labor and business history in the antebellum and post–Civil War periods. The Library of Virginia is one of only 33 institutions to receive a grant in the Humanities Collections and Reference Resources category and one of only two state archives awarded an NEH grant.

The Petersburg chancery causes are comprised of case files from the City of Petersburg Court of Chancery, 1803 to 1912, and consist of 150 cubic feet and include bills of complaint, affidavits, wills, business records, correspondence, and photographs. Prior to 1860 Petersburg had the largest population of freedmen in the Mid-Atlantic states. The records offer social, demographic, and economic details that affected state, regional, and national politics; legal decisions; and institutions. The evolution of Petersburg’s economy from one based on tobacco to one centered on milling and manufacturing can be explored through the chancery records. The importance of Petersburg as a prosperous and diverse city—the state’s largest market town and center of economic activity—is seen in the chancery causes. As a commercial and industrial center as well as a transportation hub Petersburg attracted an unusually large number of free African Americans. By 1860 Petersburg had a population of 18,000 including more than 3,000 free African Americans, half of whom were women. The suits document this aspect of Petersburg’s robust and diverse population as free African Americans, women, laborers, and artisans used the courts to recover debts, settle estates, divorce spouses, assert land ownership, or dissolve partnerships.

A chancery cause is one that could not be decided readily by existing written laws. Decisions were made by a justice or judge, not a jury, and on the basis of fairness, or equity. These justices administered most facets of local government and were the face of government for most people during this period. As justices made decisions based on equity, they expressed social mores and values that governed everyday life in communities. They were appointed, not elected, until 1852, and most were not trained lawyers. Since chancery cases dealt with issues of equity rather than law, they often contain lengthy depositions, similar to oral histories, and can also hold other valuable materials in the form of exhibits submitted to the court. It is not uncommon to find land plats, correspondence, wills, publications, photographs, architectural drawings, and the like as exhibits. As such, these records are vital to genealogists and historians.

This project will provide free online access to all pre-1913 Petersburg chancery causes. The Chancery Records Index is available through the Library’s Virginia Memory Web portal. Currently, records from 49 localities can be searched through the index. The scanning project will begin in May 2011 and be complete on April 30, 2012.

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About the Library of Virginia

The Library of Virginia, located in historic downtown Richmond, holds the world's most extensive collection of material about the Old Dominion and has been a steward of the commonwealth's documentary and printed heritage since 1823. The story of Virginia and Virginians has been told in many ways since 1607. At the Library of Virginia it is told through more than 113 million manuscripts and more than 1.9 million books, serials, bound periodicals, microfilm reels, newspapers, and state and federal documents, each an individual tile in the vast and colorful mosaic of Virginia’s experience.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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