Library and Archives Canada (LAC) announced last Thursday the launch of the 2019–2020 funding cycle for its Documentary Heritage Communities Program.
Eligible libraries, archival centres and other memory institutions can now apply for a portion of the $1.5 million that will be allocated in 2019–2020.
The following types of non-profit organizations can apply for financial assistance under the program, whether they are incorporated or not: libraries, archives, historical societies, professional library and archival associations, genealogical organizations and societies, organizations with an archival component, Indigenous organizations, and Indigenous governmental institutions.
Since this program was introduced in 2015, LAC has invested $6 million to support some 170 projects submitted by 130 organizations.
LAC said, “Every dollar invested helps to increase awareness of and access to local and regional histories that should be known and told across the country, not only in the communities where the projects originated.”
Mylène Bélanger, archivist, EXPORAIL, Canadian Railway Museum, said, “The financial assistance provided by the program has enabled us to treat, digitize and preserve nitrate negatives, which are highly flammable and unstable supports that generate gases threatening the preservation of the negatives and adjacent prints. Digitizing nitrate negatives is a way to share images with the public and preserve the images over the long term.”
The program’s eligibility criteria and guidelines are posted on the LAC website. Organizations are encouraged to read the guidelines because some changes have been made that may affect applications.
For questions about the program, call LAC at 819-997-0893 or 1-844-757-8035, or email bac.contributions.lac@canada.ca. The application deadline for the 2019–2020 funding cycle is January 8, 2019, at 11:59 p.m., Eastern time.
