Archives Initiative
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.
Grantees
67
Grants
130
Awarded
$38.5M
(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; (Center) 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.
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, 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, 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, and enabling programmatic growth.
Featured Grants
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Committee to Protect Journalists
Supporting 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.
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.
New York Preservation Archives 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 archives efforts.
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.
Century Association Archives Foundation
Supporting Century Association's archival project that will
inventory and digitize their historic architectural records.
Green-Wood Cemetery
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.
City Lore
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.
Authors Guild
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.
Metropolitan Opera
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.
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.
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.
New York Historical
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.
Burle Marx Institute
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.
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.
The Juilliard School
Supported multiple archives projects at The Juilliard School enabling the preservation and accessibility of institutional records and special Library collections.
The Noguchi Museum
Supported an institutional archives project at Noguchi Museum to ensure Isamu Noguchi's brilliant legacy is preserved and available to the public.
The Frick Collection
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.
Pioneer Works
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.
The Whitney
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.
Poets House
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.
Manhattan Theatre Club
Supported an institutional archives project at Manhattan Theatre Club.
New York City Center
Supported an institutional archives project at New York City Center.
Ping Chong and Company
Supported an institutional archives project at Ping Chong and Company.