August 1, 2024

By Emily R. Kahn, Executive Director

The time has come to announce the third cohort of Shelby White & Leon Levy Archival Assistance Initiative grantees! In 2022, the Leon Levy Foundation provided funding for three rounds of small grants to improve archival stewardship of and public access to materials related to historic preservation in New York City. These funds built on our earlier Archival Assistance Initiative grants from 2013, 2015, and 2017, which assisted historic preservation-related not-for-profit organizations across New York City in identifying and maintaining their archival resources. 

Following robust deliberations, staff and board members from the New York Preservation Archive Project selected seven organizations to receive grants up to $2,500. Please join us in congratulating the following awardees of the highly competitive 2024 Shelby White & Leon Levy Archival Assistance Initiative: 

The Architectural League of New York:

To catalog, index, and digitize archival holdings related to the organization’s extensive preservation work undertaken primarily in the 1970s.

Historic Districts Council:

To digitize their pre-2012 paper records pertaining primarily to the designation process for historic districts.

King Manor Museum:

To process their archival collections related to the museum’s preservation and integrate records management software into the website.

Merchant’s House Museum:

To catalog and re-house the archive of present executive director Margaret Halsey Gardiner.

New York Sign Museum:

To conduct an oral history with a local sign painter who has quietly shaped the commercial landscape of Queens. 

Renee and Chaim Gross Foundation:

To purchase storage supplies to re-house collection materials pertaining to the 1962-1963 renovation, acquisition, and subsequent alterations of the sculptor Chaim Gross’ Greenwich Village townhouse located at 526 LaGuardia Place.

Tenement Museum:

To survey a collection of records pertaining to preserving a historic tenement located at 97 Orchard Street.

Congratulations to this year’s grantees! Since 2022, the New York Preservation Archive Project has funded archival projects at 23 organizations through the Shelby White & Leon Levy Archival Assistance Initiative. We look forward to supporting additional work to steward preservation-related archives in the future.