Rediscovering Our Revolutionary Tradition Grant Program

Rediscovering Our Revolutionary Tradition Grant Program is sponsored by National Endowment for the Humanities. Supports efforts to conserve, digitize, catalog, transcribe, and expand access to historical collections documenting American independence and government history.

Rediscovering Our Revolutionary Tradition Rediscovering Our Revolutionary Tradition Individual institution: up to $350,000 Consortium: up to $750,000 conserved or rehoused documents and objects; catalog records, finding aids, and metadata; digital surrogates of humanities collections; advanced images; transcriptions and translations; indexes, databases, or digital resources Individual institution: up to two years; Consortium: up to three years The deadline for this cycle has passed.

Updated guidelines will be posted in advance of the next deadline. In the meantime, please use these guidelines to get a sense of what is involved in assembling an application.

In honor of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the nation’s principles of equality, liberty, and government by consent, the Rediscovering Our Revolutionary Tradition program supports activities to preserve and improve access to primary source materials—including archival records; documents and rare publications; art and material culture; and photographs and sound recordings that document: 1) The history of American independence and establishment and/or expansion of the nation, including the experiences of states, territories, and communities—in the original colonies and beyond—joining the nation; 2) The history of American government in federal, state, and local contexts, including the federal Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, state constitutions, governors’ papers, charter documents, court and legislative records, and other foundational documents.

Applications may be submitted for projects that address one or more of the following activities: providing conservation treatment for and/or rehousing original items or groups of items; cataloging or arranging and describing collections of archival records, documents, and rare publications; art and material culture; and photographs, sound recordings, and other primary sources; digitizing collections and making them available for public use through websites, portals, or local, state, or national repositories; using advanced imaging and associated data to promote the research value of primary sources; transcribing or translating primary source materials, including through crowdsourced means; updating previously digitized resources to improve access and preserve digital surrogates or other digital assets; and developing indexes, databases, or other project-specific digital resources to codify information on a subject or to aggregate selected humanities materials.

Review your application package Read the Notice of Funding Opportunity to ensure you understand all the expectations and restrictions for projects delivered under this program and are prepared to write the most effective application. Notice of Funding Opportunity, 2025 (PDF) Grants. gov application package Register for a SAM number and an account on Grants.

gov When you are ready to apply, register for an account with SAM. gov and Grants. gov ; both are required.

If you already have completed the registrations, make sure they are current. Grants. gov Applicant Registration Guidance Complete your application package Follow the instructions outlined in the Notice of Funding Opportunity.

Submit your application package on Grants. gov You will receive a confirmation from Grants. gov when you’ve successfully submitted your application.

Subsequently, you will receive up to five more notices confirming different stages in the application process. Verify that you have received all confirmations. Note that email filters may send these messages to your spam or junk folder.