Rev250

REV 250: Examining the Semiquincentennial through a Jersey Lens

An opportunity for public libraries to celebrate New Jersey’s contributions and place in history.

The NJ State Library has selected 21 projects to receive grant awards. Click here to view the full list and read descriptions of each project.

About the Grant Opportunity

The application deadline closed on March 21, 2025.

The United States Semiquincentennial, or 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, will be celebrated on July 4, 2026 and will be marked by a variety of events around the country. Many of the American Revolution’s singular events took place in New Jersey, including more battles than in any other colony. New Jersey’s first State Constitution predates the U.S. Constitution, and was used as a model for it.

Inspired by these events, and many others, both leading up to this pivotal date and after it, the NJ State Library (NJSL) launched a funding opportunity for public libraries. Libraries across the state are encouraged to celebrate the people, places, and accomplishments of New Jersey from its earliest days. Because libraries are revolutionary places and instrumental in safeguarding community history, they are uniquely positioned to select historical events worthy of commemoration and importance to their communities. Through these grants, NJSL hopes to put together a collection that highlights and shares New Jersey’s importance and contributions to history as we prepare to celebrate the semiquincentennial.

The purpose of this grant opportunity is to give libraries across the state a chance to decide what is important to their community and design a grant-funded project to showcase the full range of events, people and places that New Jersey represents. NJSL highly encourages partnerships in project design and implementation. Potential partners may include, but are not limited to, nonprofit organizations, schools, institutions of higher education, local historical societies, museums, and other community groups.

At the start of the initiative, NJSL estimated that $250,000 would fund approximately 15-20 grants using New Jersey Library Network funds.

Award options:

Digitization, with award amounts between $10,000 and $25,000, to safeguard and provide access to historic community materials.
Public Programming, with award amounts between $2,500 and $10,000, to highlight a cultural, educational, artistic or historic event of local importance.
Special Collections, with award amounts between $2,500 and $7,500, to build community knowledge through collections

REV250 Grant Award Recipients Announced

The NJ State Library has selected 21 projects to receive grant awards. View the full list and read descriptions of each project below, or download a PDF.

REV 250 short award descriptions (PDF)Download

Guidelines

Detailed guidelines were provided to help applicants navigate the process. We’ve worked to ensure they’re clear, comprehensive, and easy to follow.

REV 250 Final Guidelines 2-5-25 Download

Application

The application deadline closed on March 21, 2025. Applications were submitted in Foundant, our grants management system: https://www.grantinterface.com/Home/Logon?urlkey=njsl

A copy is available below for download.

Rev250 Application (PDF)Download

Budget Template

REV-250-Budget-Template (Excel)Download

Grant Application Questions

Applicants with questions in advance of the due date emailed them to grants@njstatelib.org with the subject title “Rev 250 Grant Question.” An initial question and answer document was posted on NJSL’s website February 10, 2025 and updates were posted once per week through March 17, 2025.

Rev250 Q&A 3-17-25 (PDF)

Attribution Statement

Please acknowledge NJ State Library’s contribution to your REV 250 project. Kindly include a statement on all announcements, social media, webpages, presentations, materials or equipment purchased with grant funding.

Sample attribution statement layouts

You can use these texts, replacing the bracketed parts [in bold] with the name of your library and project.

Sample Attribution Text:

This [project/program] was funded [in part] by a grant from the New Jersey State Library’s REV 250: Examining the Semiquincentennial through a Jersey Lens — an opportunity for public libraries to celebrate New Jersey’s contributions and place in history.

Shorter attribution versions:

This [project/program] was funded [in part] by the New Jersey State Library’s REV 250: Examining the Semiquincentennial through a Jersey Lens.

Support for this [project/program] was provided by the New Jersey State Library through its REV 250: Examining the Semiquincentennial through a Jersey Lens.