The 1772 Foundation was named in honor of its first restoration project, Liberty Hall in Union, New Jersey. Built in 1772 by William Livingston, New Jersey’s first elected governor, the residence was home to generations of the Livingston and Kean families, including Stewart Barney Kean, who founded the 1772 Foundation in 1984. Liberty Hall has since been converted into a museum and the Foundation, thanks to Mr. Kean, continues to provide ongoing support for it and many others like it across the country. Upon Mr. Kean's death, in 2002, the Foundation grew from a $2.1 million private foundation to one with over $80 million in assets. In the twenty years since then, the foundation has granted more than $50 million for historic preservation work throughout the United States. After learning of the Kean Family's ties to slavery, the 1772 Foundation has committed to increased funding to racial justice and African American history funding.