$100,000 grant helps Morgan Archive hire first director

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – A $100,000 grant will expand the efforts of the Faulkner Morgan Archive, a Lexington-based archive that collects, preserves, and promotes the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Queer history of Kentucky.

The grant is from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The funds are earmarked to employ the nonprofit’s first executive director, FMA President and Co-founder Dr. Jonathan Coleman.

“A game changer” is how Coleman described the grant.

“This substantial support—and from such a noted, national leader in philanthropy—only further demonstrates the broad importance of Kentucky’s LGBTQ history. Kentucky’s queer community has a crucial story to tell the world, and we’re honored the Mellon Foundation has recognized our work in saving and sharing this history.”

FMA was chosen from almost 200 applicants to The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s call for proposals to community-based archives.

Since 2019, the Foundation has offered approximately $2.2 million dollars in direct support of community-based archives, recognizing that such institutions are “essential to the creation of a more inclusive and polyvocal American story.”

The Foundation describes community-based archives as “materials gathered, collected, and shared primarily by members of a marginalized community to document their collective histories.”

“The social memory work that community-based archives enable for marginalized groups is exceedingly important.  The Foundation’s grant to The Faulkner Morgan Archive reflects our commitment to amplify the voices of the vulnerable and to help ensure their stories are collected, told, and shared,” commented Dr. Patricia Hswe, Program Officer for The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Judge Ernesto Scorsone said, “This grant is a tribute to the great work Faulkner Morgan Archive has already begun.” He continued, “The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation reaffirms the value of Kentucky’s LGBTQ history and [FMA’s] efforts to preserve it.”

The Faulkner Morgan Archive, Inc., is a nonprofit that collects, preserves, and promotes the LGBTQ history of Kentucky.

Founded in 2014, the archive now houses 15,000 items and has collected more than 250 hours of oral histories. A robust schedule of public programing shares this history throughout Kentucky.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the largest supporter of the arts and humanities in the United States.

Through its grant-making, the Foundation, seeks to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. By the end of 2018, the Foundation’s endowment was approximately $6.5 billion; annual grantmaking came to approximately $316 million.