NOTICE: USHRAB is funded through a State Board Programming Grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), the grant-making body of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). NARA has been operating without an appointed and Senate-confirmed Archivist of the United States since the former Archivist of the United States, Dr. Colleen Shogun, resigned in early 2025. Without this position filled, the NHPRC has been unable to meet and approve grant applications for over a year, including USHRAB’s Programming Grant application that was submitted in May of last year. The NHPRC has access to the grant funds, but the funds are being left unspent due to the delay in filling this position.

This means that as of June 30, 2026 USHRAB no longer has federal grant funding to support its programs, and we will be unable to offer Archival Project Grants or Professional Development Microgrants to support Utah’s cultural heritage organizations’ valuable work in preserving and providing access to our state’s historical records.

You can help! If you’ve received a grant from USHRAB or planned on applying for one, you can reach out to Utah’s US Senators and let them know how impactful USHRAB’s federally-funded grants are to organizations that protect Utah’s history, especially in rural Utah. Even if you have not used USHRAB’s services, if you believe that our mission to “help archives, libraries, museums, and other organizations protect your community’s history and provide public access to historical records” is important, please consider contacting the US Senators and letting them know that they should prioritize confirming the next Archivist of the United States.

Continuing Services
Although USHRAB’s grant programs will be on hiatus, other services, such as Archives Fundamentals training, Ins and Outs of Access training, Digital Project Planning training, consultation services, and Utah Archives Month resources will continue to be available.

Professional Development Micro-Grants

USHRAB offers micro-grants up to $1,000 to fund archival professional development and networking opportunities for individuals who work with records and historical documents in Utah, including but not limited to archivists, records keepers, and cultural heritage workers. This is a need-based award intended for volunteers, paraprofessionals, students, and early- or mid-career professionals at institutions that cannot fund such opportunities. These funds can be used to pay fees for formal training courses, professional organization conference registration fees, and other development opportunities. Applicants must reside in Utah, and the professional development opportunity must occur within the current state fiscal year (July 1 – June 30) and has not yet been attended by the applicant. Please submit applications or questions to ushrab@utah.gov.

Examples of qualified opportunities include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Courses offered by the Society of American Archivists (offered year round)
• Utah Collections Preservation Workshops and Webinars
• The Annual Meeting of the National Council on Public History
• The Utah Library Association/MPLA Joint Conference
• The Annual Conference of the American Institute for Conservation
• Conference of Intermountain Archivists Annual Conference
• CIMA Fall Caucus In-Person Viewing at the Division of Archives and Records Service
• Utah Museums Association Conference