Overview
The Historical & Archival Records Care grant program was established by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (PHMC) and the State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB). The program assists nonprofits and local governments with the preservation of historically valuable original documents.
The grants are administered on a competitive basis. Funding for the awards is for two years. Grants will be awarded based on review of the application by a subcommittee of SHRAB members.
Projects related to works-of-art, textiles, artifacts, and museum objects are not eligible for this grant.
How to apply
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1
Review the requirements.
Review the applicant and project requirements to confirm your eligibility. Contact the grant manager at RA-PHARCHIVESGRANTS@pa.gov if you’re unsure whether your organization or project is eligible.
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2
Prepare and submit your application.
Grants may only be submitted through the online system.
Your organization may need to register as a First Time User. Once you register and log into the system, follow these steps to begin a new application:
- Create a project name such as "My PHMC Archival Grant."
- Select "yes" for "help selecting your program."
- Click "Create a new application."
- Select "PHMC" under the agencies heading and click search.
- Click "Apply" next to the Historical and Archival Records Care Grants.
Grantees must keep their login and password information throughout the lifecycle of their grant term. They must also update their contact information as necessary.
For help, contact the Enterprise eGrants Customer Service Center at 833-448-0647. Representatives are available Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. You can also contact egrantshelp@pa.gov.
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3
PHMC will review your application.
The panel of grant reviewers use specific criteria to score all applications. You can view a sample HARC evaluation scoring sheet.
Please note that providing only the required information in the grant system and skipping other sections of the application may result in lower scores. The panel will score the grant applications based on how well they meet this criteria.
Timeline
The application for this funding cycle runs from May 1 to August 1.
| Project stage | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Application period | May 1 | Application opens |
| May–July | HARC Grant webinar(s) | |
| August 1 | Application deadline | |
| December | Recipients announced | |
| First year of grant | January | Award/non-award letters mailed to applicants |
| February–April | Grant agreements mailed to applicants | |
| May | Grant recipients begin their projects | |
| November 1 | Recipients deliver first six-month interim report | |
| Second year of grant | May 1 | Recipients deliver second six-month interim report |
| November 1 | Recipients deliver third six-month interim report | |
| May 30 | Grant project end date | |
| June 30 | Recipients deliver final reports |
Funding amount and requirements
Single organization grants in amounts up to and including $5,000, no match required. Collaborative grants for amounts larger than $5,000 are currently not permitted.
Applicant eligibility
Organizations must:
- Be a nonprofit with tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service or local government entity located in Pennsylvania.
- Be incorporated and in existence for two years prior to the submission of a grant application.
- Submit the grant application through the DCED's Electronic Single Application for Assistance website.
Organizations are also encouraged to be registered with the Pennsylvania Department of State’s Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations, as required.
Eligible organizations must be engaged in the preservation of historical records for public access. This may include:
- Historical societies
- Libraries (public and private)
- Museums with archives and records management responsibilities
- Historical records repositories whose primary mission is the preservation of historical records to make them available to the public
- Non-profit community organizations responsible for the care of historical records
- Museums and historic sites that are owned and operated by independent nonprofit organizations
- Museums and historic sites that are owned by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission are eligible if they are operated by an independent, nonprofit organization
- Other historical organizations with collections consistently available for research
- Organizations with the mission to help care for collections not necessarily their own
- County governments
- Municipalities
- Colleges and universities
- School districts
- Statewide elected official and government associations (e.g. Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS), Pennsylvania Prothonotaries' and Clerks of Courts' Association, Pennsylvania School Boards Association, etc.)
Individual subunits (e.g. Recorder of Deeds Office) within a county government or a special collections division within a university library or tax-exempt organizations (e.g. a college or university) may apply for grants if they function as a discrete unit within the parent organization. A subunit that is part of a larger organization will be deemed eligible if:
- The unit has administrative autonomy for its operations;
- The unit has a fully segregated and itemized operating budget within that of the parent organization; and
- The unit is able to separately and distinctly fulfill all eligibility and application requirements as defined in the guidelines. Eligible organizations (or subunits) may apply for only one Historical & Archival Records Care Grant in any given grant cycle year. More than one qualified subunit within a multipurpose organization, however, may apply for funding during the same grant cycle.
Eligible organizations (or subunits) may apply for only one Historical & Archival Records Care Grant in any given grant cycle year. More than one qualified subunit within a multipurpose organization, however, may apply for funding during the same grant cycle.
Examples of ineligible organizations may include:
- Museums and historic sites operated by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
- Associate groups of PHMC sites may apply as a partner in a collaborative grant as long as the lead applicant is not affiliated with PHMC
- Museums and historic sites operated by state or federal government agencies, except through an associate or management group
- State and federal government entities
- Individuals
Project eligibility
All applications and proposed grant activities must meet eligibility requirements in order to be considered.
General conditions
- All projects must relate directly to some aspect of Pennsylvania history.
- All projects must be engaged in the preservation of original historical records for public access.
- Proposals must adhere to professional archival standards for the care, preparation, and storage of materials. For further information, see the Pennsylvania State Archives’ “Archives Without Tears” (AWOT) online modules and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania’s Archival Basics resource page.
- Digitization projects must follow the Pennsylvania State Archives’ Digitization Guidelines.
- It is the grantee’s responsibility to determine if aspects of their project may be subject to the Enhanced Minimum Wage Provision.
- Work cannot begin until the successful applicant has received a fully executed Grant Agreement. Work commencing prior to disbursement of funds cannot be reimbursed.
- Funding may be requested for surveying, inventorying, preserving, arranging, and describing historical records relevant to Pennsylvania.
- Funding may also be requested for reformatting or the purchase of supplies and equipment.
Project examples
All HARC grant project activities must be related to the preservation of original historical records in some way.
Eligible historical preservation projects may include:
- Projects addressing statewide needs that build partnerships and networks to support collection care and accessibility
- Projects that scan historical records to reduce handling and thereby preserve the original materials and to make them available publicly online
- Projects to ensure the preservation and use of valuable archival/historical manuscripts including cartographic, pictorial, audio-visual and machine-readable records that are not published
- Purchase of preservation supplies such as acid-free cartons, folders, and boxes
- Reformatting of deteriorating historical records
- Inventory and survey projects
- Arrangement and description of archival records or historical manuscripts
- Programs for the education and training of archivists, record managers and manuscript curators, to care for collections
- Historical records preservation assessments that may address storage and exhibition of materials, environmental control, building security, collections conditions and conservation treatment reports
- Institutional needs assessments that focus on professional standards and requirements relating to the administration of historical records with specific recommendations to correct deficiencies in the care of collections
- Emergency/disaster mitigation and action projects
Ineligible historical preservation projects may include:
- Endowments, prizes, or awards
- General operating support
- Capital improvement projects
- Lobbying-related expenses or expenses for entertainment
- Existing part-time or full-time staff positions (this includes hiring part-time staff during their nonworking hours)
- Projects that have been initiated prior to the date of the award
- Projects that serve a religious purpose or promote religious dogma
- Any project whose results are not publicly available, except where prohibited by law
- Projects involving widely published or non-original materials, such as newspapers, published maps, and ephemera, except in cases where those materials:
- Do not exist elsewhere (e.g. a small community newspaper of historical significance with no known existing copies in the State Library of Pennsylvania, Library of Congress, or other archive);
- Uniquely document a community, organization, or business (e.g. newsletters or concert programs); or
- Provide distinct context based on the creator’s organization (e.g. news clippings and ephemera assembled in such a way as to offer additional insight into a business, community, or event).
- Projects dealing with works-of-art, published books, textiles, artifacts, or museum objects
- Records or office management projects that do not relate to normal archival functions or goals, such as projects for the creation of a new filing, storage, or retrieval system for active non-permanent office files
Resources
Fact sheets and webinars
- HARC Grant Fact Sheet
- HARC webinar (May 2025)
- HARC webinar (May 2021)
- ESA system webinar (January 2019) – Some fields described in this webinar relate to other grant processes, but the general functions are similar.
Sample applications and projects
- Sample grant application
- Effective application examples
- Historical repository project samples
- Local government project samples
Reporting forms and instructions
External resources
