Robert M. Edsel’s second book about World War II looting, The Monuments Men, came out in September, and as someone who in years past has written much about the subject myself (here, here, and here, to name a few), I wanted to see what Edsel has to say.
Yesterday, as I was about to start reading, I decided to look first at other coverage of the book so far. I found something more interesting than reviews.
Just last week, the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art (Edsel’s non-profit), announced that it had “found” another member of the famed art recovery squad — one of its few women, Mary Regan Quessenberry, now living in Boston.
Edsel has been on a mission on this subject for years, which he has said dates to his reading of Lynn H. Nicholas’s The Rape of Europa in the late ’90s. He went on to co-produce the documentary of the book, and to publish Rescuing da Vinci (ouch on that locution!), an illustrated book about the wartime looting and post-war aftermath.
Then he established the Monuments Men Foundation to preserve the legacy of the “group of 345 or so men and women from thirteen nations who comprised the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section during World War II.”
On the website, you can find a roster of their names — the foundation is trying to trace them, and compile biographies, photos, and other information about each one. For many, it has only a name.
Ms. Quessenberry, who is 94, was discovered when her niece saw Edsel being interviewed on the BBC.
She had worked with renowned MM member Rose Valland, and others, serving from 1945 to 1948, when she retired as a Major.
As you’ll see on the Foundation’s site, her niece:
…contacted the Monuments Men Foundation about her aunt’s role as a Monuments officer. Mr. Edsel immediately traveled to Boston to meet with Mary, and presented her with a flag of the United States which had flown over the United States Capitol in honor of the Monuments Men, as well as a gold leaf copy of the Congressional Resolution that was passed in both the House and the Senate recognizing for the first time in the United States the heroic efforts of the members of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section.
Some Monuments Men — S. Lane Faison, James Rorimer — are well-known; but Edsel is trying to honor the whole team by “finding” the others, including a few more Monuments Women.
Now back to the book.
Photos: Courtesy Monuments Men Foundation