Archives Initiative

Archives Initiative is sponsored by Leon Levy Foundation. Safeguards and ensures access to vital historical information at cultural institutions, primarily in New York City.

### 20th Anniversary Video Shelby White and Leon Levy Conservation Endowment at the New York Public Library Learn more ### Why Thousands of Trees and Shrubs Are Coming to Prospect Park The New York Times - Prospect Park continues efforts to replant after a devastating wildfire... <!

-- wp:paragraph --><p id="article-summary"><em>The New York Times - </em>Prospect Park continues efforts to replant after a devastating wildfire 11 months ago. Today park officials will announce that they are hiring four more gardeners, bringing the total on the 526-acre park’s staff to 11, and plan to plant more than 3,000 trees and shrubs in three acres blackened in the fire.

The new staff is being hired with money from a $10 million endowment grant from the Leon Levy Foundation, named for the hedge fund pioneer and philanthropist Leon Levy, who died in 2003. </p><! -- /wp:paragraph -->The New York Times - Prospect Park continues efforts to replant after a devastating wildfire 11 months ago.

Today park officials will announce that they are hiring four more gardeners, bringing the total on the 526-acre park’s staff to 11, and plan to plant more than 3,000 trees and shrubs in three acres blackened in the fire. The new staff is being hired with money from a $10 million endowment grant from the Leon Levy Foundation, named for the hedge fund pioneer and philanthropist Leon Levy, who died in 2003.

The New York Times - Prospect Park continues efforts to replant after a devastating wildfire... The New York Times - Prospect Park continues efforts to replant after a devastating wildfire... The New York Times - Prospect Park continues efforts to replant after a devastating wildfire...

Learn more The pioneering Archives Initiative safeguards and ensures access, by scholars and the public, to vital historical information at a wide range of cultural institutions primarily in New York City. (Top Left) The Museum of Modern Art Archives Reading Room - Photo by Laurie Lambrecht. Photographic Archive.

MoMA Archives, New York; (Bottom Left) Burle Marx Institute Drawings - Photo by Tatiana Leiner; (Right) Center for Jewish History Shelby White & Leon Levy Archival Processing Laboratory Center for Jewish History Shelby White & Leon Levy Archival Processing Laboratory > The Archives Initiative provides a true and deep partnership for each collection it supports.

Every grant comes not only with financial investment but with probing questions, committed and informed programs, and the strength of the hive-mind of fellow Levy archivists. To receive this special support is to accept the challenge to advance beyond the standard and become a leader in the field. The Leon Levy Foundation is creating the future of the archives profession, to the benefit of all scholars, researchers, and history-lovers.

> **Director, Archives and Exhibitions, New York Philharmonic** The Archives Initiative originated from Shelby White and Leon Levy’s deep-rooted interest in preserving history to inform, strengthen and inspire future generations. Beginning with a few pioneering grants in 2005, the Archives Initiative has since awarded a range of grants of all sizes that span the Foundation’s broad interests.

The Archives Initiative provides grants for the establishment, development, and use of archives, including support for assessments and planning, archivist positions, digital asset management systems (DAMS), collections development, research, programming, education and exhibitions.

In addition to grantmaking, the Archives Initiative seeks to promote knowledge sharing and professional advancement among archivists through the**Leon Levy Foundation Archives Community**, established in 2020. The Community meets regularly to discuss issues and ideas in the field, share best practices and tools, develop collaborations, and support one another.

Its annual convening, the LLF Archives Roundtable, offers a rich, day-long agenda of presentations, panels, and conversation.

The combination of grant funding and Archives Community support strengthens recipient organizations by enriching institutional knowledge and operational capacity, facilitating information access and sharing, empowering archivists to become key decision-makers in their institutions, enabling programmatic growth, and elevating and empowering the archives profession.

## Brooklyn Academy of Music ## New York Botanical Garden ## The Morgan Library & Museum ## National September 11 Memorial & Museum ## The Hispanic Society of America Supporting an archival initiative to vastly improve digital access to the Authors Guild's institutional records, including a new Shelby White & Leon Levy Authors Guild Archives Fellow.

### New York Preservation Archive Project Supporting NYPAP's important role in the NYC historic preservation space by continued funding for the Shelby White & Leon Levy Archival Assistance regranting program and their institutional archive efforts. Supporting and Partnering with Urban Archive to help NYC cultural organizations, including LLF's Archival Community, bring their archives to life.

### Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Supporting LCPA's Knowledge and Legacy Initiatives through the Shelby White & Leon Levy Early History and Archives Project, helping to bring the iconic institution's history to life. ### Rockefeller Archives Center Supporting a project at RAC to establish the Leon Levy Foundation Archive which will house and make accessible the Foundation's records.

### Committee to Protect Journalists Supported CPJ's digital infrastructure overhaul, securing 30+ years of data on press freedom and streamlining workflows to provide time-sensitive, critical aid to more journalists.

### Public Housing Community Fund Supporting PHCF and New York City Housing Authority in revitalizing and expanding NYCHA’s archival collection in partnership with LaGuardia Community College and the LaGuardia Wagner Archives.

Supporting the Shelby White & Leon Levy Archives Initiative at Green-Wood, a first-of-its-kind public facing cemetery archives program housed in the new Center for Research, enabling public access to its 186 years of historic records. Supporting Burle Marx Institute's archival initiatives as it prepares for relocation to its new headquarters at The Cavanelas House, designed by the late, world-renown landscape designer, Burle Marx.

### La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club Supporting La MaMa's LLF Archives Initiative to make their rich history and collections accessible, expand programing, education, internships, fellowships and provide an extensive body of scholarship to academics and students of all levels globally.

Supporting phase II of the Pink Fang (formerly Ping Chong and company) Institutional Archives Project to meet the considerable demand for scholarly access to Ping Chong’s iconic work over many decades. Supporting Telling the Untold Stories archival project that will make 40 years of NYC cultural heritage documentation accessible to the public, adding to their living archive and rich programming.

### Hudson River Park Friends Supporting HRPF with a planning grant to enable the assessment of archival holdings which document the transformation of the west side waterfront over the past 3 decades - from abandoned maritime and industrial era structures to a world class park and recreational amenity for millions.

### Century Association Archives Foundation Supporting Century Association's archival project that will inventory and digitize their historic architectural records. Supporting the Metropolitan Opera with a planning grant, enabling the iconic institution to inventory and access their archival needs and plan for a large-scale initiative.

### American Symphony Orchestra Supporting ASO with a planning grant to enable the assessment of archival holdings which document the rich history and unique ASO model of musician led initiatives providing affordable and free classical music concerts to all New Yorkers.

### Queens Public Library Supporting the final stage of Queens Public Library's transformative digital infrastructure upgrade that will ensure the rich history of Queens is preserved and accessible.

Supported the Shelby White and Leon Levy Digital Archives Initiative that enabled NYH to build and implement its first digital asset management system, resulting in accessibility of their current holdings and creating a seamless ingesting of new digital materials.

### New York Public Radio Supported the Shelby White and Leon Levy Digital Archives initiative at NYPR, enabling the preservation of nearly 100 years of WNYC and WQXR archival assets, transforming their digital infrastructure and facilitating greater public access to the historic materials.

### Center for Jewish History Supported Center for Jewish History and its archival collections, including the creation of a dedicated Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Processing Lab and related programming and activation of their vast collections.

### Institute for Advanced Study Endowed the Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center at IAS in 2008, ensuring their rich and unique collections of historical materials are preserved and accessible for generations to come.

### American Museum of Natural History Supported the Shelby White and Leon Levy Archive Initiative at the AMNH, enabling the Museum to preserve and streamline their vast collections, and provide public access through a new, customized digital asset management system.

### New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Supported a multi-year archives project at the NPYL for Performing Arts enabling public access to hundreds of thousands of never before seen video and audio recordings. ### The Museum of Modern Art Supported MoMA with several institutional archives projects, including the records of the P. S.

1 Contemporary Arts Center, to preserve and make accessible the iconic institutions historical information. ### Museum of the City of New York Supported a multi-year institutional archives project at MCNY, enabling the processing, digitization, and public access to important museum records that document the Museum's vibrant history.

### Wildlife Conservation Society Supported multiple initiatives at WCS, including the Shelby White & Leon Levy Archives Film Collection and an archives apprenticeship. ### Metropolitan Museum of Art Supported multiple archives projects at The Met, contributing to the preservation and documentation of 130 years of its history, now accessible on the museum's website.

Supported multiple archives projects at The Juilliard School enabling the preservation and accessibility of institutional records and special Library collections. Supported an institutional archives project at Noguchi Museum to ensure Isamu Noguchi's brilliant legacy is preserved and available to the public.

Supported Fellowships at the Center for the History of Collecting at The Frick Collection to encourage scholarly use of their extensive archives. ### Maine Historical Society Supported several projects at Maine Historical Society including the Patrick Chasse Landscape Design Archives Initiative and the Riverside Collections Center named in honor of Patrick Chasse, the late, treasured, landscape designer.

### Center for Brooklyn History Supported several projects at Center for Brooklyn History to archive special collections, including a major grant for the Shelby White & Leon Levy Institutional Archives initiative. Supported the Shelby White & Leon Levy Digital Archives Initiative at Pioneer Works to ensure the preservation of its digital collections and unique programming.

### Chanin School of Architecture at Cooper Union Supported several archives projects at Cooper Union's School of Architecture to ensure the groundbreaking work of the students since the 1930's is preserved and accessible to future students and the public. Supported The Whitney with several archival projects that preserved some special collections, contributing to exhibitions of the materials.

### Frances Perkins Center Supported a planning grant for the assessment of Frances Perkins' records, now held by three separate institutions, with the goal of building a centralized repository. ### Center for Professional Education of Teachers Supported a planning grant to CPET, as they approach their 20th anniversary, to enable the assessment of their holdings and create a path to make them accessible.

### College of the Atlantic Supported a grant to the College of the Atlantic to expand their archival capacity, enabling the hiring of students to carry out archival work in the College's Library. ### Shelter Island Historical Society Supported an institutional archives project, enabling the Shelter Island Historical Society to build capacity so they can continue ingesting historic collections.

### Regional Plan Association Supported a grant for the Survey & Assessment Plan of RPA's archives in anticipation of its 2022 centennial celebration. Supported archival and cataloging projects at Poets House helping to preserve their extensive poetry collections and Library. ### Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution Supported an Archives of American Art preservation project.

### Roundabout Theatre Company Supported several archival projects at Roundabout Theatre to preserve and document their records and ephemera. ### Women's Film Preservation Fund Supporting WFPF's preservation grants that help independent filmmakers, archives, and other non-profit film-related institutions to preserve, house and ultimately show the works.

### Manhattan Theatre Club Supported an institutional archives project at Manhattan Theatre Club. Supported an institutional archives project at New York City Center. The Leon Levy Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals or letters of inquiry.

Grants are made by invitation only.