On Tuesday, Archivist of the United States David Ferriero announced 30 grants for total of $2.62 million for documentary editing and archival projects. The AHA congratulates all awardees and acknowledges the vital historical work that these grants help to support.

The grants program is carried out through the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and supports work to discover, catalog, compile, and edit historical documents and archival materials. Just over $1 million was awarded to support 14 documentary editions of the papers of important historical and cultural figures such as Andrew Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr., Eleanor Roosevelt, and Walt Whitman. The other major strand includes 15 archival projects in state and institutional archives to increase access to their historical records. In addition, a very interesting project was funded to “explore innovative methods to facilitate the preservation and use of social media collections.” The work of the editors in creating these documentary editions and the archivists in processing and developing archives for use by the public are of inestimable value to the nation and vital to sustaining democratic culture.

This post first appeared on AHA Today.