Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation Awards 18 Grants

The Hampton Bays-based Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation awarded 18 grants in its first round of 2016, giving funds to museums, colleges and universities that have focused on historic preservation, archives, scholarships and educational programs.

Each year, grants are rewarded in June and November to organizations that cover historic outreach. This year’s recipients include Sagtikos Manor, New York Historical Society, Friends of Science, the 3rd NY Regiment 1775 Long Island Company, Inc., Port Jefferson Harbor Education and Arts Conservatory, Preservation League of NYS, New York State Historical Association, Huntington Historical Society, St. Joseph’s College, Brentwood Historical Society, Stony Brook University, Sayville Historical Society, Southold Indian Museum, Old First Presbyterian Church, John Jermain Memorial Library, First Congregational Church, Bridgehampton Historical Society and W.S. Commerdinger, Jr. County Park Preservation.

The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation was first established in 1987 to help support studies in New York State history, specifically in Suffolk County and is named after Robert David Lion Gardiner. Gardiner’s family owned Gardiner’s Island since 1639, as a grant from King Charles I of England.

The foundation has recently established the Honorable Peter Fox Cohalan Scholarship for Islip Seniors in American History, which will be rewarded yearly. This scholarship will be awarded to a high school senior at an Islip Town high school who plans to pursue an undergraduate degree with a concentration in American History or American Government.

Next year, the foundation will award junior and senior group exhibitions at the New York State History Day competition in Cooperstown with the Robert David Lion Gardiner Award.

For more information, visit rdlgfoundation.org.