About

“As conflicting narratives of past events have developed, open archives may very well be instruments to reduce divergence, while encouraging mutual understanding and fruitful cooperation.”

-Stanley Cohen, founder and President of The Scone Foundation

The Scone Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports outstanding achievements in the arts and sciences through a wide array of academic, cultural, and socially-oriented programs for the public good. Established in 1998 by attorney Stanley Cohen, the Foundation is known particularly for its initiatives honoring innovative minds in art and research throughout the world, such as the Calder Prize (developed in collaboration with the Calder Foundation) and the Archivist of the Year Award.

The Archivist of the Year program annually recognizes an archivist who has made a significant contribution to the profession in working to ensure the preservation of important historical events in our global cultural consciousness. In the award process, the Scone Foundation defines “archivist” broadly, with recipients ranging from those who have forged a lifelong career of resisting censorship to preserving historical memory to fostering national transparency and identity. Their contributions to the scholarship of history and biography are undeniable, and especially distinctive those honored with the Archivist of the Year award often have a body of work which seeks to explore the difference between collective or emotional memory with  historical insights developed from archival reserch.

Among the Archivist of the Year program’s highlights, its spotlight on libraries in Afghanistan inspired Tony Kushner’s acclaimed Broadway play Homebody/Kabul, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal. The award has frequently served to continue the legacy of champions for marginalized voices, maintaining a commitment to the memory of those who have survived the most severe international atrocities, and providing avenues for healing through multicultural understanding. Past honorees have included Albert Knoll of the Dachau Archives; Jacqueline Kavanagh of the BBC; Xiong Jingming, Professor of Folk History at the Chinese University of Hong Kong; and, in a joint award, Dr. Yehoshua Freundlich, Director of the Israel State Archives and Khader Salameh, Director of the Al-Asqa Mosque Museum. Notable speakers at the award ceremony have included Tony Kushner, Pulitzer Prize winner Robert A. Caro, the award-winning biographer David Nasaw and Victorian scholar, Lord Asa Briggs.