Link Foundation records

Collection

Identifier: BUSC-1997-002

Scope and Contents

The records of the Link Foundation are largely concerned with the administration of grants to organizations and tracking the disbursement of funds to individuals. Grant files include correspondence with grantees, grant applications, project reports, and scientific publications.

There are several organizations that are particularly well documented because they recieved grants for multiple years from the Foundation. These organizations include Florida Atlantic University (FAU), Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI), Binghamton University, Roberson Museum and Science Center, and University of Rochester.

Also contained within the collection are documents concerning the administration of the Foundation itself, including financial statements, tax documents, correspodence, policies, and minutes of meetings. There is also a small volume of photographs in the collection, mostly of members of the Board of Trustees and Foundation events.

Dates

Creation: 1953 - 2024

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use and has no known restrictions.

Historical Note

The Link Foundation was established as a charitable trust by Edwin A. and Marion C. Link in 1953. Most of the first grants were awarded in the field of aeronautic research. In the 1960s, the Link Foundation began awarding grants and fellowships in the field of oceanographic research. The Link Energy Fellowship Program was established in 1983 as a memorial to Edwin A. Link. This program funds research in energy and its conservation. Marilyn Link, Edwin Link's sister, served on the Board of Trustees for the Foundation for most of its history.

Grants from the Link Foundation are not awarded to individuals. They are awarded only to non-profit organizations. Since its establishment, the Foundation has awarded over $3,000,000 to colleges, universities, and other non-profit organizations. These organizations then disburse the funds to individuals in the form of grants, fellowships, and scholarships.

Full Extent

20.5 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The Link Foundation was established as a charitable trust by Edwin A. and Marion C. Link in 1953 to fund research in aviation, oceanography, and energy. The records of the Link Foundation are largely concerned with the administration of grants to organizations . Also contained within the collection are documents concerning the administration of the Foundation itself, including financial statements and minutes of meetings.

Arrangement

The collection is divided into 4 series: administrative records; financial records; grants and fellowships; photographs and slides.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Marilyn Link began donating material related to the Link Foundation to the Roberson Museum in 1994. In 1997-1998, the Link Foundation, the Roberson Museum, and Binghamton University Special Collections decided that the materials should be transferred to Binghamton University. From that point, the Foundation began donating materials directly to Binghamton in regular installments.

Related Materials

There are materials related to the Link Foundation in the Link Family papers and business records, including several photo albums.

Processing Information

In 1999, the collection was processed as part of a project to process all the Link collections. Employees who worked on the project included Martha Clark, Marion Hanscom, Beth Turcy Kilmarx, and Jeanne Eichelberger.

Over the years, additional material was added to the collection, and sometime around 2014 the collection was reprocessed. Additional material has been received after this processing.

In 2026, Madison White (Archival Processing Manager) reprocessed the collection to incorporate the later additions into the structure. During processing, some materials were weeded from the collection. Weeding primarily focused on matrerials with less research interest, including duplicates, Board member travel planning, finanical material related to individual check disbursement, inquiries about the grant program, reciepts, and weekly bank statements. There was a smaller group of materials removed for privacy protection, including any material that contained social security numbers and materials related to the Foundation's matching program (where Board members could donated to a cause and get matching funds from the Foundation; these files contained personal financial information of Board members). After weeding was completed, files were aqrrnaged into series based on categories of organization that were already present in the collection. The finding aid was updated to docuemnt the new arrangement.