SAN ANTONIO — The University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries’ Special Collections has received a $500,000 gift from the Diana Kennedy Foundation to support the long-term preservation and accessibility of the renowned Diana Kennedy Collection.
The three-year grant will fund conservation, digitization, faculty engagement, and new research fellowships—expanding the impact of Kennedy’s lifelong work documenting Mexico's diverse cuisines.
“This is probably the largest gift the Foundation will ever make,” said Clayton Kirking, a trustee of the Diana Kennedy Foundation and a longtime friend of Kennedy. “We wanted to start with something truly meaningful. Given Diana’s legacy and her life's work, UT San Antonio was the ideal place to keep her influence alive."
Before her passing in 2022, Kennedy entrusted UT San Antonio Special Collections with her extensive library and archive of research notes and documentation representing six decades of culinary fieldwork in Mexico. The collection includes 18 19th-century Mexican cookbooks, nearly 600 volumes of cookbooks and culinary reference books, and photographs, correspondence, and scrapbooks that documented her travels and research.
Kennedy, widely regarded for her unwavering commitment to researching, documenting, and raising awareness of the diversity of Mexican cuisine, selected UT San Antonio for its extensive Mexican Cookbook Collection, its strong cultural ties to Mexico, and its dedication to sharing historical materials with researchers, chefs, and students.
“This generous support from the Foundation allows us to honor Diana Kennedy’s lifelong commitments to women, sustainability, and Mexican gastronomy,” said Dean Hendrix, vice provost and university librarian. “It ensures that her work will continue to educate and inspire researchers around the world.”
Over the next three years, the Foundation’s $500,000 contribution will support:
- Conserving Diana’s personal library to ensure fragile books and manuscripts are safely preserved for future research.
- Digitization of Kennedy’s papers, scrapbooks, and photographs, enabling online access to her research materials.
- Grants available for UT San Antonio faculty to incorporate Kennedy’s archives and cookbooks into their coursework and research projects.
- The implementation of ‘The Diana Kennedy Foundation Fellowship for Research on Women in Food and Sustainability’ will be open to chefs, food writers, community researchers, and independent scholars beyond San Antonio.
The grant also supports specialized contactless digitization equipment that enables material to be scanned safely and quickly and at the highest quality.
“Diana was passionate about preserving regional Mexican cuisines and making that knowledge accessible,” said Assistant Vice Provost for Special Collections Amy Rushing. “This gift helps us honor that mission while giving new generations of scholars and chefs access to her life’s work.”
Kirking, who started cataloging Kennedy’s library over a decade ago, said the partnership between UT San Antonio and the Foundation shows Kennedy’s great respect for librarianship and scholarship.
“As a librarian and library administrator myself, I have deep respect and regard for librarians,” he said. “Diana felt the same way. She wanted her work to live in a place that values the integrity of history and the communities that shaped it.”
With the Foundation’s support and UTSA’s stewardship, the Diana Kennedy Collection will continue to be a vital resource—preserving Kennedy’s passion for Mexican cuisines and inspiring future generations of researchers, cooks, and cultural historians.
Explore Further
Learn more about UT San Antonio Libraries Special Collections
Learn more about the Diana Kennedy Collection