Deadline: November 15
The British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme is accepting applications for a new round of its annual grants, aiming to support field researchers working with vulnerable archives that need to be digitized for preservation and/or accessibility.
The program offers approximately 30 grants each year to enable researchers to locate vulnerable archival collections, arrange their transfer wherever possible to a suitable local archival home, and deliver digital copies into the international research domain via the British Library. These grants are the primary means by which Arcadia contributes to the urgent task of identifying, preserving and making accessible such archival collections before they are lost forever.
There are four types of grant. With the exception of the Rapid Response grants, they are awarded in May/June and normally expected to start in August/September each year.
- Pilot project grants can either involve investigating the potential for a major project through a survey, or they may be small digitization projects. These projects should last for no more than 12 months and have a budget limit of £15,000 ($18,750).
- Major project grants are intended for digitization and cataloguing of a collection or collections. This type of grant may involve preservation necessary for digitization and may also relocate the material to a more secure location/institution within the country. These projects can last for up to 24 months and have a budget limit of £60,000 ($75,000).
- Area grants are similar to a major grant, but larger in scale and ambition. Applicants must demonstrate an outstanding track record of archival preservation work and be associated with an institution that has the capacity to facilitate a large-scale project. The program will award a maximum of two area grants in each funding round. They can last for up to 24 months and have a budget limit of £150,000 ($187,500). Potential applicants must contact the EAP office before submitting an application for this type of grant.
- Rapid Response grants will be introduced in late 2019. They are intended to safeguard an archive in immediate and severe danger. These grants are intended for the situations in which the time scale of the standard EAP decision process could result in extensive damage to the material. These grants will be accepted on a rolling basis. They should last for less than six months and have a budget limit of £10,000 ($12,500).
The deadline for preliminary applications is November 11, 2019 at midday (GMT). Visit https://eap.bl.uk/grants for more information.
