New York Public Library
Project Title
As a one-time grant for support of the Teen Voices: America’s 250th project
Date
Mar. 05, 2026
Duration
18 months
Description
As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, New York City’s libraries are playing a vital role in inspiring young people to explore, reflect, and share their own American stories. Writing is a powerful form of self-expression, and when young people see that their voices matter, they are more likely to engage in civic life as adults. Yet fewer than half of students in New York City today are proficient readers and writers, highlighting the importance of programs that cultivate these skills. Reaching nearly 140,000 teens each year across 89 branch libraries, New York Public Library’s (NYPL) free programs for New York City youth help to bridge these gaps. Their city-wide Teen Voices contest and magazine project offers youngpeopleages 13-18 the opportunity to submit their stories, essays, poems, and art to be published in print and digital formats. With support from Carnegie, NYPL will offer two special Teen Voices contests inviting NYC-based youth to reflect on what America means to them. In conjunction, NYPL will offer an array ofthemed programs celebrating America’s 250thand engaging youth in telling their American story, including writing workshops, classroom field trips showcasing NYPL’s archives, a summer writing contest for students ages 6-12, and an activity guide for educators, families, and community organizations.
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Project Title
As a one-time grant in support of the exhibition, "Declaring America: 1776 and Beyond", in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Date
Mar. 05, 2026
Duration
12 months
Description
Each year, the New York Public Library serves approximately 13 millionvisitors across its 92 branch libraries in Manhattan, Staten Island, and theBronx, offering not only access to books, but also other free services such asliteracy and English-language programs, college and career readiness support,educator professional development, internet access, and free gathering spaces.NYPL also maintains a world-class research collection and archives, sharedglobally through programs and exhibitions. In the coming year, NYPL willcommemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary with a system-wide initiative, 250 Years: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit ofHappiness. The Corporation will provide a leadership grant for thecornerstone exhibition, Declaring America: 1776and Beyond, to be presented in four galleries at the Schwarzman Buildingand featuring highlights from the Library’s collections, including ThomasJefferson’s handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence.
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Project Title
In support of the 100th Anniversary of the Schomburg Center
Date
Jun. 05, 2025
Duration
12 months
Description
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, one of The New York Public Library’s (NYPL) renowned research libraries, is the world’s most significant and publicly accessible institution dedicated to preserving, documenting, and interpreting the global Black experience. The Schomburg Center’s was founded with the help of a $10,000 grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York and is now planning its centennial celebrations including two milestone special exhibitions, lectures, a program of Black film showings and play readings, curated recipe tastings, and a Centennial Festival in June 2025. This program will be followed by a convening of artists, scholars, archive professionals, and community members to explore how the Center and its peer institutions can inform the future of Black Studies and make archives more accessible. A Carnegie Corporation grantwill provide support for all aspects of the centennial year programming.
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Project Title
For project support of College Access and Civic Engagement Programs for Teens with an emphasis on Immigrant Youth and English as a Second Language (ESL) program for adult immigrants throughout New York City
Date
Sep. 12, 2024
Duration
24 months
Description
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is instrumental in realizing Andrew Carnegie’s vision of accessible knowledge. As part of the Corporation’s Library Initiative, including grants to the Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Public Library, this grant will address the lack of access to ESL programs for the 1.7 million non-English-speaking residents and the limited availability of extracurricular activities, leading to social isolation amonglow-income teenagers. The NYPL will enhance adult ESL skills, supportintegration and social mobility, and provide wraparound services, including civic and digital learning classes. The NYPL will also implement the Teens 360° Initiative, offering safe after-school learning environments, college and career resources, technology courses, paid internships, and community engagement activities through its twentyTeen Centers.
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Project Title
As a challenge grant for core support of the Vartan Gregorian Center for Research in the Humanities
Date
Sep. 15, 2022
Duration
24 months
Description
Founded in 1985, the New York Public Library (NYPL) is the largest public library system in the United States, overseeing ninety-two libraries across New York City. It also houses a collection of more than 56 million items, including manuscripts, archives, rare books, maps, photographs, and other unique materials. In 2019, the NYPL opened the Center for Research in the Humanities to enable scholars and independent researchers to engage with the rare materials held within its archives through advanced study, writing, and collaborative programming. With Corporation support in the form of a challenge grant, the NYPL will name and endow the center after the Corporation’s most recent president, the late Vartan Gregorian, in honor of the transformative impact that Gregorian had on the library during his tenure as its president from 1981-1989.
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Project Title
For general support in recognition of the New York Public Library's 125th anniversary
Date
Mar. 05, 2020
Duration
12 months
Description
Founded in 1895, the New York Public Library (NYPL)has been improving lives, communities, and our civil society though learning, thinking, and reading, serving more than 45 million patrons each year.Carnegie Corporation of NewYorkhas provided support foreducational programmingas well asfor increasing and maintaining its collectionssince the Corporation’sfounding in 1911. ACorporation grant will enable a dedicated Library staff to create special anniversary programming and will help toexpand its core mission offering free access to knowledge, promotingscholarship, increasingschool programming and other public services, at their library branches and throughtheir online books and otherdigitalcollections. Other anniversary activities include the opening of two major exhibitions;special programs at branchesacross the city;a major ecumenical event at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine;all culminating with a major galalater in the year.
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Project Title
As a final grant for general support of The New York Public Library commemorating the reopening of the Rose Main Reading Room
Date
Mar. 08, 2018
Duration
12 months
Description
The New York Public Library (NYPL) has been an essential provider of free books, information, ideas, and education for all New Yorkers and researchers around the world for more than 100 years. It is the nation’s largest public library system, featuring a unique combination of eight-eight neighborhood branches in three New York City boroughs and four scholarly research centers, serving over 17.6 million patrons onsite annually, and millions more online. With Carnegie Corporation support, the NYPL will continue to strive to improve and enhance its core operations and research services as well as serve as a hub of discovery and innovation.
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Project Title
For general support of the New York Public Library commemorating the reopening of the Rose Main Reading Room
Date
Jun. 01, 2017
Duration
12 months
Description
The New York Public Library (NYPL) has been an essential provider of free books, information, ideas, and education for all New Yorkers for more than 100 years. It is the nation’s largest public library system, featuring a unique combination of eighty-eight neighborhood branches in three New York City boroughs and four scholarly research centers, serving over 17.6 million patrons onsite annually, and millions more online. With Carnegie Corporation support, the NYPL will continue to strive to improve and enhance its core operations and research services as well as serve as a hub of discovery and innovation.
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Project Title
For support for the project titled "Scaling Infrastructure for Next-Generation Digital Preservation and Access"
Date
Sep. 08, 2016
Duration
42 months
Description
The New York Public Library’s (NYPL) collections are among the most comprehensive ever assembled for the free use of the public, covering virtually every subject, format, and language and forming the bedrock of the library’s programs and services to promote scholarship and learning. For nearly two decades, NYPL has been working to create large-scale digital access to its collections. Today, NYPL seeks to increase and upgrade its digital-asset-management infrastructure to take on a new set of challenges. To date, the library’s digitization efforts have focused on media such as books, manuscripts, maps, prints, and photographs. NYPL plans to expand its digitization efforts to more than 200,000 rare and unique films and audio recordings, among others. In addition, the library has begun to process a growing volume of collections that were created in digital formats and increasingly make up the archival collections of writers, artists, and organizations. With Corporation support, the library’s repository system—which, thus far, has handled only simple digital assets like images and texts—will be updated to store this expanding spectrum of digital material.
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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
12 months
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Project Title
For general support of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Date
Dec. 10, 2015
Duration
12 months
Description
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a research unit of The New York Public Library (NYPL), is a leading research and cultural arts institution dedicated towards preserving the rich legacy of the global Black experience. In 1925, Carnegie Corporation was instrumental in helping the NYPL acquire Arturo Schomburg’s famous library, establishing a foundation for the Schomburg Center’s ever-growing collections and work today. Today the Center provides services and programs for constituents of all ages from the United States and abroad and houses over 10 million items including rare books, manuscripts, photographs, sheet music, prints, and film. Now in its 90th year, with Corporation support, the Schomburg Center will continue to implement public programming, events and administrate internal planning that will commemorate the Center’s 90-year history while inspiring the next generation of history makers.
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Project Title
For a project to build and improve access to the collections of the New York Public Library
Date
Jun. 14, 2012
Duration
24 months
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Project Title
Toward programming and outreach on the history of the Abrahamic faiths
Date
Sep. 10, 2009
Duration
24 months