New York Botanical Garden
Project Title
For project support of the Explainers and Garden-wide internship programs
Date
Sep. 11, 2025
Duration
15 months
Description
The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG), a cultural and scientific public institution in the Bronx since 1891, will launch a unified, pedagogy-driven internship initiative with support from Carnegie. Building on twenty-fiveyears of experience and responding to persistent barriers faced by first-generation and low-income youth, this pilot program will expand access to paid, real-world learning opportunities for high school students in the Bronx and across New York City. Carnegie funding will support five core activities: integrating a formal learning and development framework, providing departmental work experiences, implementing college and career readiness workshops, delivering information literacy training through the LuEsther T. Mertz Library, and guiding students through capstone research projects. Interns will build technical and soft skills, explore diverse career pathways, and gain tools for navigating misinformation and participating in civic life.
Website
Project Title
As a final grant for general support
Date
Sep. 02, 2021
Duration
12 months
Description
New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) was established in 1891 by Nathaniel and Elizabeth Lord Britton, botanists who, inspired by the Royal Botanic Gardens outside London, endeavored to create one of the world’s great botanic gardens in New York. Andrew Carnegie was an early supporter of this effort, serving as a founding member of the organization’s board of trustees, as well as vice president from 1895 to 1919. Today, NYBG welcomes more than 1,000,000 visitors annually. Some 90,000 school-age children from the Bronx participate in educational programs about plant science, ecology, nutrition, and organic gardening each year. Despite NYBG’s temporary closure last spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NYBG continued to offer programming online. NYBG aims to preserve and protect the planet’s biodiversity through its on-site living collections while facilitating study of the natural world at the Mertz Library, the most comprehensive horticultural and botanical library in the world. With Corporation support, NYBG will continue to advance human understanding of nature.
Website
Project Title
As a one-time only grant for general support
Date
Jun. 04, 2020
Duration
12 months
Description
Since its founding in 1891, The New York Botanical Garden, Mertz Library has been a repository for the study of the history of botanical art and art related to the natural world, and for scholarly comparison, Today,theLibrary is considered the premier research center for the study of horticulture, botanical science, history, and the environmental humanities.Indeed, Andrew Carnegie was one of the earliest contributors to the Library’s collections, donating rare books and journals, prints, and artwork, considered integral to its research holdings. With Corporation support, the Library will digitize theBotanical Art and Illustration Collectionwhich will be made available a diverse group of constituents, including historians, botanical artists,landscape preservationists,botanical researchers,staff,members of the general public,and students.
Website
Project Title
For the Andrew Carnegie Distinguished Lecture
Date
Sep. 12, 2019
Duration
60 months
Description
In 1891 Andrew Carnegie and other civic leaders helped establish the New York Botanical Garden. Carnegie, who served as a founding Board Member and Vice President, worked to build the institution’s library and its status as a major international botanical and horticultural research center. Today, educational and public programming, such as the Andrew Carnegie Distinguished lecture series, is fundamental to the garden’s mission. The lectures feature distinguished international speakers in horticulture and other fields. The garden relies on these events because they generate interest, engage current and future donors, bring in new audiences, and provide much-needed earned income. With Corporation support, the garden will continue to produce the lecture series.
Website
Project Title
For general support
Date
Jun. 14, 2018
Duration
24 months
Description
New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) was established in 1891 by Nathaniel and Elizabeth Lord Britton, botanists who, inspired by the Royal Botanic Gardens outside London, endeavored to create one of the world’s great botanic gardens in New York. Andrew Carnegie was an early supporter of this effort, serving as a founding member of the organization’s board of trustees, as well as vice president from 1895 to 1919. Today, NYBG welcomes more than 1,300,000 visitors annually. Some 300,000 come to participate in educational programs about plant science, ecology, nutrition, and organic gardening, nearly 90,000 of them school-age children from the Bronx. NYBG also operates one of the world’s largest plant research and conservation programs, with nearly eighty scientists working in the garden’s molecular labs. In honor of the stewardship and legacy of Gregory Long, outgoing president and CEO of NYBG, Carnegie Corporation will provide general support to fund operations and programs during the transition to new leadership.
Website
Project Title
For the digitization and transcription of the John Torrey Papers at the Mertz Library
Date
Mar. 02, 2017
Duration
12 months
Description
In 1891, Andrew Carnegie and other civic leaders helped establish the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG). Mr. Carnegie, who served as a founding Board Member and Vice President, worked to build the institution’s library, the LuEsther T. Mertz Library, and its status as a major international botanical and horticultural research center. Today, the institution is renowned as one of the largest, most comprehensive botanical libraries in the world. With Corporation support, the Mertz Library will begin the process of digitizing and transcribing the John Torrey Papers, which is the largest and most important collection in the United States of pioneering American botanist John Torrey’s correspondence, manuscripts, notes, and botanical illustrations.
Website
Project Title
For a needs assessment that addresses teacher professional development and learning between informal science institutions and universities
Date
Mar. 03, 2016
Duration
12 months
Description
Informal inquiry-based science institutions emphasize real world, inquiry-based learning and can ultimately have a greater impact on student science literacy than formal classroom education, however this is not an area that universities often include in teacher education programs. The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is leading an innovative model for collaborative professional development between informal science institutions and universities entitled, Practice, Research, Engagement in Science Education for Teachers (PRESET). The Corporation will support a needs assessment that will engage NYBG and its collaborators, the City University of New York, Lehman College and the Wildlife Conservatory to review current practices and the proposed phase one of the logic model and program design, and mitigate potential challenges prior to implementing and evaluating phase two.
Website
Project Title
As a one-time only grant for support of its K-12 education and enrichment programming to students in the New York metropolitan area
Date
Sep. 17, 2015
Duration
10 months
Website
Project Title
For the Andrew Carnegie Distinguished Lecture
Date
Jun. 14, 2012
Duration
72 months