The Green-Wood Historic Fund, the educational and cultural arm of the Green-Wood Cemetery, was awarded a $500,000 grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.
The funding will be used to support the Center for Research within the cemetery’s Education and Welcome Center, scheduled to open in 2025.
“We thank the Gardiner Foundation for this generous grant, which enables the realization of the next step in Green-Wood’s growth,” said Richard J. Moylan, president of the Green-Wood Cemetery. “Notably, the Center for Research will give scholars and researchers unprecedented access to Green-Wood's institutional records, which will now be publicly available for the first time in over 185 years.”'
When completed, the Education and Welcome Center will offer visitors an introduction to the historic cemetery, as well as provide space for educational events and programs. The space will house two exhibition galleries, a classroom, the Center for Research and a meeting and event space for local nonprofits and community organizations. Offices for staff will occupy the second floor.
The sustainable design will provide efficiency in water use, low-energy lighting, and environmentally controlled storage for Green-Wood’s archival documents, some of which date back to 1838.
The Gardiner Foundation’s funds are in addition to money Green-Wood has received from New York State, New York City, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and private donors. Funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities supported two earlier projects at Green-Wood to evaluate and digitize portions of the cemetery’s archival records.
“The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation is proud to support The Green-Wood Cemetery's forthcoming Education and Welcome Center in keeping with our commitment to preserve and illuminate the rich tapestry of history in New York,” said Kathryn Curran, executive director of the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation. “This initiative marks a significant milestone in Green-Wood's journey to become a hub for groundbreaking exploration in history and the humanities. By opening the doors to their unique and voluminous yet relatively unknown primary source documents, the Center for Research will play a pivotal role in advancing Green-Wood's stature as a history-based institution.”
