State Archives Awards $91,000 in Grants to Preserve New York’s Historical Records

The New York State Archives awarded $91,529 in Documentary Heritage Program (DHP) grants to six non-profit organizations and one tribal nation to help identify, collect and make available New York’s historical records, State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia announced today.

“We’re proud to support projects to preserve New York’s heritage through important historical records,” said Board of Regents Chancellor Betty A. Rosa. “It’s important for our students and teachers to use primary sources in research. By supporting projects that make historical records accessible for research use, we show our students and teachers how to use primary sources to better understand their communities and the people who have helped to shape them.”

“These grants help ensure New York’s story can be told,” said Commissioner Elia. “These funds will help make valuable historical records available to the public today and in the future. I thank the applicants for valuing the importance of our documentary heritage and their commitment to making that history available to all.”

Bob Clark, Chair of the State Historical Records Advisory Board, added, “The Documentary Heritage Program Grants are critical to ensuring that stories of under-documented groups, events, places and peoples are fully woven into the rich tapestry that is New York State. Through programs like the DHP, New York State’s story is the story of all of us.”

Awards for the DHP grants range from $8,931 to $25,000. Awards are below:

County	Organization	Project	Award Amount
	Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe	Akwesasne Heritage Complex Archival Project	$25,000
Kings	Brooklyn Historical Society	Brooklyn Navy Yard Oral Histories	$14,616
Ulster	Hudson River Maritime Museum	Casting the Net: Harvesting and Sharing Hudson River Resources	$12,922
Monroe	Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley (doing business as “Out Alliance”)	Minority Documentation Project	$10,598
Albany	The Research Foundation for the State University of New York, University at Albany	Increasing Access to New York’s Political History	$10,333
Onondaga	Erie Canal Museum	Revealing Hidden Collections at the Erie Canal Museum	$9,129
Steuben	The Corning Museum of Glass	Arrangement and Description of the T. G. Hawkes & Co. Records	$8,931

The State Archives administers the Documentary Heritage Program grants, which provide financial support to New York State not-for-profit organizations that hold, collect, and make available New York’s historical records. It is a competitive program with grants awarded based on the merits of the applications.

Since its inception in 1988, the program has provided over $3 million in competitive grant funds to not-for-profit organizations statewide. These funds support a variety of projects that help build a more comprehensive and equitable documentation of New York’s history and culture. Project categories include:

Documentation: projects that build a comprehensive record that more fully and fairly represents all New Yorkers and their history. These projects identify and collect unique, original source materials about the people, groups, events, and/or on the political, economic, and social conditions in New York, to pave the way toward making these materials accessible to all.
Arrangement and Description: projects that make publicly available the unique, original records of traditionally under-represented groups and topics of New York State. Applications to arrange and describe historically valuable born-digital materials as well as paper-based materials are encouraged.

Grant funded projects may start on July 1, 2019 and all work on those projects must be completed by June 30, 2020.