Cultural and historic preservation: Protecting assets in our communities through the Living Legacy Initiative

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Sustaining cultural and historical heritage is crucial to building a future that honors the past. Here’s why I’m proud of the work we do through Iron Mountain’s Living Legacy Initiative.

Jen Grimaudo

Head of Global Sustainability, Iron Mountain

April 30, 20267 min read

Cultural and historic preservation: Protecting assets in our communities through the Living Legacy Initiative

A grand opening and an enduring Living Legacy partnership

Recently, I had the privilege of participating in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice (PMC), a longtime partner of Iron Mountain’s Living Legacy Initiative.

On September 7, 2024, the PMC celebrated the grand opening of the restored childhood home of Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, an American civil rights activist, advocate, and scholar. The day honored the many individuals who came together to make sure Pauli’s legacy lived on and could inspire future generations of trailblazers. A highlight of the event was when Chairman of the Board, Jesse Huddleston, sang Lean on Me. The words were the perfect way to express the spirit of community that made the event possible.

This event provided an opportunity to reflect on the importance of Living Legacy and our commitment to safeguarding historical and cultural heritage sites for future generations.

As part of this event, I was reminded that our homes are safe places where we can be our authentic selves, be supported, and recharge. Seeing the Pauli Murray home open to the community so that it can become a home, and a safe place, for everyone is something I will always carry with me.

Jen GrimaudoSenior Director, Global Sustainability

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Living Legacy Initiative

The Living Legacy Initiative is Iron Mountain’s commitment to preserve and make accessible cultural and historical information and artifacts.

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Photo credits: Johnny Smith

Iron Mountain’s Living Legacy Initiative first partnered with the PMC in 2015 to aid in the stabilization and restoration of Dr. Murray’s childhood home. The initial preservation work supported PMC’s eligibility to apply for its National Historic Landmark designation, which was granted in December 2016.

Throughout the past five years, Iron Mountain’s Living Legacy Initiative and our Employee Resource Groups have supported the PMC’s focus on preserving history and providing high-quality educational opportunities to the global community.

CyArk, another longtime Living Legacy partner, recently brought Rev. Dr. Murray’s legacy to life as part of a Tapestry Tour through 3D modeling and storytelling from people connected to the landmark site.

Continuing our preservation work

Through the Living Legacy Initiative, we continue to explore and expand opportunities to preserve and make accessible cultural heritage information and artifacts.

Most recently, virtual guided tours of historical sites in Italy, the United States, Greenland, Brazil, and India were made available to the public as part of our partnership with CyArk. This video highlights the entire Cave #1 temple complex at the Elephanta Caves World Heritage Site in India.

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We also recently partnered with the People’s Palace Projects (PPP) to enable the return of the sacred cave of Kamukuwaká to the indigenous peoples in the interior rainforest of Brazil. The cave is culturally significant because it holds the origin story of the indigenous peoples living in the Xingu territory of the Amazon. PPP and its partners worked with the Wauja people to create a full-size replica of the Kamukuwaká cave after it was vandalized. Iron Mountain was able to provide financial support to fund the construction of the shelter for the cave replica as well as sea-freight shipping to relocate the cave to Brazil.

The future of sustainable cultural and historical preservation

In 2025, Living Legacy projects will continue to build partnerships that will add to our cultural and historical preservation efforts.

In addition to our work with CyArk, we will continue our partnership with the World Monuments Fund on a rehabilitation project in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal to restore traditional public water fountains in the region, known as ‘hitis.’

The hitis have provided water to local communities in the Kathmandu Valley for more than 1,500 years and represent a part of their cultural heritage. Out of the almost 1,000 hitis that once existed in the Valley, there are currently 223 in use as the primary source of drinking water for many families. The project will support the rehabilitation of up to four hitis and develop implementation guidelines for further restoration. The goal is to preserve culture and ensure continued water provision in the face of mounting water insecurity in the area.

Explore the Living Legacy Initiative

Every day, we protect and preserve our customers’ most precious assets and vital information. The Iron Mountain Living Legacy Initiative allows us to extend that same care and expertise to preserve and protect our shared cultural heritage.

Explore Iron Mountain’s Living Legacy Initiative to see how we strengthen our communities.

The Living Legacy Initiative, Iron Mountain’s corporate philanthropy program, provides grants and in-kind services to nonprofit organizations focused on preserving and making accessible cultural heritage information and assets. By combining financial support with our expertise in physical storage, digital archives, document scanning, and other forms of digital preservation, we enable our partners to preserve and protect historic assets vital to communities worldwide.