The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of
New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a
private foundation
A private foundation is a tax-exempt organization not relying on broad public support and generally claiming to serve humanitarian purposes. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest private foundation in the U.S. with over $38 billion ...
with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by
Andrew Mellon of the
Mellon family of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the product of the 1969 merger of the Avalon Foundation and the Old Dominion Foundation. These foundations had been set up separately by
Ailsa Mellon Bruce and
Paul Mellon
Paul Mellon (June 11, 1907 – February 1, 1999) was an American philanthropist and an owner/breeder of thoroughbred racehorses. He is one of only five people ever designated an "Exemplar of Racing" by the National Museum of Racing and Hall ...
, the children of Andrew Mellon.
The foundation is housed in New York City in the expanded former offices of the
Bollingen Foundation
The Bollingen Foundation was an educational foundation set up along the lines of a university press in 1945. It was named after Bollingen Tower, Carl Jung's country home in Bollingen, Switzerland. Funding was provided by Paul Mellon and his wife ...
, another educational philanthropy once supported by Paul Mellon. Poet and scholar
Elizabeth Alexander is the foundation's current president. Her predecessors have included
Earl Lewis
Earl Lewis is the founding director of the Center for Social Solutions and professor of history at the University of Michigan. He was president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation from 2013 to 2018. Before his appointment as the president of the ...
,
Don Randel,
William G. Bowen,
John Edward Sawyer and
Nathan Pusey
Nathan Marsh Pusey (; April 4, 1907 – November 14, 2001) was an American academic. Originally from Council Bluffs, Iowa, Pusey won a scholarship to Harvard University out of high school and went on to earn bachelor's, master's, and doctora ...
. In 2004, the foundation was awarded the
National Medal of Arts
The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and Patronage, patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and ar ...
.
Core areas of interest
*
Higher education, including the
humanities,
libraries, and
scholarly communication and
information technology
*
Museums and
art conservation
*
Performing arts
The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...
*
Conservation and the environment
Research group
Mellon has a small research group that has investigated doctoral education, collegiate admissions, independent research libraries, charitable nonprofits, scholarly communications, and other issues to ensure that the foundation's grants would be well-informed and more effective. Some of the recent publications of this effect include ''Equity and Excellence in American Higher Education'', ''Reclaiming the Game: College Sports and Educational Values'', ''JSTOR: A History'', ''The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values'', and ''The Shape of the River''.
Mellon's endowment has fluctuated in the range of $5–6 billion in recent years, and its annual grantmaking has been on the order of $300 million.
Projects & initiatives
*
Aluka
*
Artstor
*
JSTOR
JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...
*
Open Library of Humanities
*The Monuments Project
*The Maniobra Initiative (The work of one's hands initiative)
*Creatives Rebuild New York
See also
*
List of wealthiest charitable foundations
This is a list of wealthiest charitable foundations worldwide. It consists of the 45 largest charitable foundations, private foundations engaged in philanthropy, and other charitable organizations such as charitable trusts that have disclosed the ...
References
External links
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation official siteMellon Program in Scholarly CommunicationMellon Program in Museums and Art ConservationMellon Program in Research in Information TechnologyMellon Mays Undergraduate FellowshipsThe UCL Mellon ProgramFinding aid to the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust Recordsat the Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
{{Authority control
1969 establishments in New York City
Organizations established in 1969
Conservation and restoration organizations
United States National Medal of Arts recipients
Foundations based in the United States