Shelby White & Leon Levy Archival Assistance Initiative Grants 2025
DEADLINE: SEPTEMBER 21, 2025 AT 11:59PM EST
In keeping with our mission to document, preserve, and celebrate the history of historic preservation in New York City, the New York Preservation Archive Project established the Shelby White & Leon Levy Archival Assistance Grants Initiative to help historic preservation-related not-for-profit organizations and similar institutions identify and maintain their archival resources related to stories of historic preservation. Generous assistance from the Leon Levy Foundation in 2022 allowed the Initiative to be reinvigorated for three additional rounds of grants. In 2025, the Archive Project received additional support from the Leon Levy Foundation to continue the grant through 2027.
The Archive Project and the Leon Levy Foundation hope to promote the importance of safeguarding archival records and support those working in New York City’s civic preservation sector. Applicants must demonstrate their project or collection’s significance to the story of historic preservation in New York City. Applications from all five boroughs are welcome. Archives that document New York City history but do not tell a historic preservation story do not fall within the qualifications of this grant program.
Scope: Projects and expenses may include, but are not limited to, hiring an archival consultant; creating an archival policy; performing a survey of archival collections; the creation of collection inventories and finding aids; collections processing; the purchase of archival supplies and materials; increasing public accessibility to collections; scanning and digitization; and the creation of new management strategies for operational records.
**Grants awarded by the Shelby White and Leon Levy Archival Assistance Grants Initiative (typical range increased to $1,000-$5000) do not require a matching grant. Applying through a fiscal sponsor is permitted.
Please contact info@nypap.org if you have questions about eligibility.
Completed applications with supporting materials must be submitted via the application form by 11:59pm on September 25, 2025. Grant winners will be informed by November 1, 2025.
Click here to preview a PDF of the application
An information session for applicants will be held on September 3, 2025 at 12pm via Zoom. Please contact Emily Kahn at info@nypap.org if you would like to attend. A recording of the session will be available upon request.