Public Knowledge
Knowledge should be accessible to all.

Mellon’s Public Knowledge program supports the creation and preservation of the cultural and scholarly record—vast and ever-expanding—that documents society’s complex, intertwined humanity. The program works with archives, presses, and libraries across the US whose work is foundational to knowledge production and distribution in culture and the humanities. Our aim is to increase access to knowledge that helps to build an informed and engaged society. We also aspire to cultivate networks and sustainable knowledge infrastructure and to ensure that an expansive and inclusive landscape of stories are shared, preserved, and told.
Grantmaking in focus



We support the work of knowledge bearers who are creating an informed and engaged society.
About our grantmaking process