By Stephen Bury
At rare moments in time a library can have a singular impact on history. The recent release of George Clooney’s film Monuments Men (2014) has triggered an interest in the role that the Frick Art Reference Library played in the preparation of maps identifying works of art at risk in Nazi-occupied Europe. For the first time in history a belligerent was taking care of cultural treasures in a war zone.
![Bill Burke and Jane Mull, members of the Committee of the American Council of Learned Societies on the Protection of Cultural Treasures in War Areas, working with Gladys Hamlin, draftswoman, at the Frick Art Reference Library on a map of Paris. circa 1943-44. The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Photographs. [National Archives photograph]](http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Frick-Library.jpg)
Bill Burke and Jane Mull, members of the Committee of the American Council of Learned Societies on the Protection of Cultural Treasures in War Areas, working with Gladys Hamlin, draftswoman, at the Frick Art Reference Library on a map of Paris. circa 1943-44. The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Photographs. (National Archives photograph)
Initially, the concern was that Allied bombing might damage or even destroy irreplaceable cultural treasures. This was articulated first by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) who in June 1943 accepted Helen Clay Frick’s offer of the use of the Frick Art Reference Library, 10 East 71st Street, New York, which Helen had founded in 1920, in their endeavors. This was the only time in its history that the Library was closed to the public (15 July 1943- 4 January 1944).
Under the auspices of William B. Dinsmoor (1886-1973), Chair of ACLS Committee on the Protection of Cultural Treasures in War Areas, which predated the Roberts Commission, lists of cultural treasures were drawn up at the Library using its guidebooks — Baedeker, Touring Club Italiano, Guide Bleu etc. — and other resources, supplemented by what could be seen as an early form of crowd-sourcing, i.e. questionnaires sent out to academics and others who had recently visited Europe. Lists of monuments and art objects were compiled and marked on maps of the relevant area — the maps supplied by the Library of Congress, the Army Map Service, or the American Geographical Society. Some of the monuments were rated higher in importance than others: it is interesting to speculate what the criteria might have been. The monuments were numbered and their locations marked on a gridded tracing paper overlay over the map. These were re-photographed by the Library photographers, Ira Martin and Thurman Rotan. The photographic studio where this was done is now the Library’s conservation facility.
Sample questionnaire from the ACLS Committee on the Protection of Cultural Treasures, c.1943. The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Archives.
Used by bomber pilots and navigators, then by soldiers on the ground directing artillery after the invasion of mainland Italy in September 1943 and France in June 1944, the maps were also incorporated into the Army’s Civil Affairs handbooks, which were issued to all officers on the ground. Later the lists and maps of treasures were used in the continuing struggle to return looted and confiscated portable treasures the rightful owners and their heirs. The Library’s resources including its Photoarchive are still used today for this very purpose.
Some 700 “Frick” or “Treasure” maps were made, and in a letter, dated 12 October 1943, to Dinsmoor, Monuments Man, Theodore Sizer praised their usefulness in the field and the work of “those magnificent women in the Frick”.
Dr. Stephen Bury is the Andrew W. Mellon Chief Librarian of the Frick Art Reference Library, New York, and is the Advisory Editor of the Benezit Dictionary of Artists.
Oxford Art Online offers access to the most authoritative, inclusive, and easily searchable online art resources available today. Through a single, elegant gateway users can access — and simultaneously cross-search — an expanding range of Oxford’s acclaimed art reference works: Grove Art Online, the Benezit Dictionary of Artists, the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, The Oxford Companion to Western Art, and The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, as well as many specially commissioned articles and bibliographies available exclusively online.
Subscribe to the OUPblog via email or RSS.
Subscribe to only art and architecture articles on the OUPblog via email or RSS.
The post Monuments Men and the Frick appeared first on OUPblog.
In celebration of the New York Public Library’s centennial festival weekend, game designer Jane McGonigal has crafted the “Find the Future” scavenger hunt.
500 players will join the “Write All Night” event on May 20th. Inside the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, they will use laptops and smartphones to find 100 objects from the library’s collection of treasures and perform a related-writing challenge.
The video embedded above features a promo clip for the event; it seems to mimic The Da Vinci Code‘s film trailer. If you want to participate, just answer this question: “In the year 2021, I will become the first person to __________.” Submit your answer before 11:59 PM Pacific Time on April 21st.
continued…
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
I found another cool Mom on TwitterMoms. Check out our interview...
Tell us about yourself?
I'm a SAHM and have two boys that are older but still drive me nuts, 2 cats, 5 chickens and lots of cars. Out of those cars 4 are vintage that we show occasionally. I love to sail! I've been sailing since I was about 2. I love blogging, crafts, decorating, and renovating. I love to laugh and I hope to go to England REEEEAL soon!
What do you consider your greatest accomplishment?
Right now, it's got to be getting our pool opened and getting the filtration system going.....if you only knew................!
Tell us about your blog?
My blog is mostly what goes on inside my brain during the course of the day! Being home most of the time, I have plenty of time to think....alot.....and I have to get it out. Some of it can be alittle rowdy, other times just goofy. I do have another blog, that's more passive, for those serious moments or enlightenments.
Tell us about your web store;
My webstore, Everything Eclectic, is just that. It's a comglomerate of different things. From Pampered Chef to LEFTON Figurines to electronics. I also have a section that is for blog links. This is in hopes that people who visit the site can click on some blogs and give some of my followers some exposure. I also have a "FEATURED BLOGGER" page that I hope to get up and running soon. AND...if any of my followers that has a link there they can post a blog as well if they're having a giveaway or special or an insight to something that might help others out.
What type of items do you sell?
All sorts! Like I mentioned above, I have Pampered Chef, Partylite, some electronics, household, collectibles, Stampin' Up.....and the inventory changes. So what I have for a couple months will change periodically.
Where do you get the items you sell?
Various places. Mostly flea markets and garagesales....lol, my house. You have to know your values and what's hot and what people are looking for in today's market. Sometimes I hit, sometimes I don't. Trends change so fast!
How has the response been so far?
Promoting a webstore on the internet is hard, reeeeal hard. I'm not that savvy in eCommerce. Google boggles my mind. Some social media sites are very complicated and don't make sense, not user friendly. So far, I've gotten a couple people to register with the site. I'm working with word of mouth, a couple social networking sites, blog sites and Twitter. But it's only been a couple days. I'm such an instant gratification person, I need to learn patience.
Anything else you'd like to add?
What I'm doing is combining my love of blogging with honest selling. I'm not out to collect your information and use it to my advantage. I'm not like that. If you purchase something from me, or just want to add a blog, that's exactly all that will happen. I don't have an "Add To Cart" button yet because that would entail upgrading on Freewebs and I'm not at that point financially to do that. So how I have it set up is the easiest and best way I can proceed with purchases.
Check out Lady Jessica's Blogs at; http://www.ryoko861.blogspot.com/ and http://www.ryoko861.wordpress.com/
Everything Eclectic at; http://www.itreasures.webs.com/
- for a brief herbal interlude. In honor of the fabulous sunshine today.
I have many many baby
basils (5 different varieties) coming up. As well as dill, caraway,
meadowsweet and lady's mantle (and various squashes and cucumbers).
This is the Cuban oregano that I've been raving about. Looks like a succulent. Incredibly aromatic (although a bit more reminiscent of fruity sage rather than anything like oregano).
I stopped by the garden center for copper tape (slug
deterrent for the raised beds), but got seduced by the lush, green lovelies in the herb section:
stevia,
germander, salad
burnett, pineapple and tangerine sage, coconut and Attar of Roses scented geraniums and more lemon thyme. Also a couple new to me:
agastache and
epazote. Both are
labled as culinary, and smell yummy - I'll have to do some research on them (my favorite kind of research! :-)
Yay Spring!
And I keep forgetting to post the treasures that my daughter brought back for me from her British Isles adventure over spring break. She knows me well. They are wonderful and perfect for me. Thank you baby.
Zachary Goes Treasure Hunting
By April Robins and F. Jay Robins
Illustrated by Kelly Carter
Copyright 2007
Author's
Website.
Now that school is out and the summer holidays are in, Zachary has some big plans to have fun. For one thing, he’s set on going on a treasure hunt.
At a thrift store, he gets the perfect ‘adventure’ hat; in the garage, he discovers several old toys inside an old trunk; on ‘Rummaging Day,’ he finds a pedal car painted with racing stripes; at a flea market with his parents, a mysterious woman gives him a ‘magical’ stone…
And in each case Zachary lets his imagination go and he imagines he’s transported to a different time and place. For instance, at the flea market, he pictures himself in Europe; at an auction, he imagines himself searching for a gold mine in the Old West; at his Grandparents’ farm, he sees himself transported to the Alaskan wilderness, and so on.
Zachary finds many imaginary treasures that summer, but nothing prepares him for the joy of the very real treasure he finds at the end. You’ll have to read the book to find out what that is!
Zachary Goes Treasure Hunting is a nice book for early readers to read on their own or for an adult to read to a young child. It brings up the idea of how powerful our imaginations can be and it also has a very cute and surprising ending that children will love. The illustrations are realistic and attractive but I would have loved to see a touch of playfulness and whimsicality to match the tone of the story and some of Zachary’s fantasies’ portrayed as well. All in all, this is an enjoyable children’s book that will entertain and enlighten young minds.
By:
Scribe Chronicler of Aventar,
on 6/5/2008
Blog:
LadyStar
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
dreams,
dragons,
books for free,
princesses,
adventures in fantasy,
girl warriors,
marching band,
enchanted jewelry,
magic spells,
myths legends and fables,
new best friend,
Fury of the Venom Legion,
Fury of the Venom Legion Comic,
Warrior of the River,
anime art,
armor and weapons,
beautiful lyrics,
cute animals,
fantasy sword,
free online book,
strong girls,
tough girls,
treasures,
Add a tag
I hope everyone had gobs of the kind of Christmas fun apparent in the picture posted above. An image you may recognize, since it's the same image I posted with my Christmas Gift Award post last week. The reason I'm using it again is to help clear up what appears to be some confusion in regards to the instructions intended to go along with the gifts.
But first, thanks to everyone who responded to my award post and adopted a gift. I was so happy when I read your comments, that I danced around my tree high on Christmas joy!
I am afraid, however that the rules or instructions have been misunderstood, so I decided to post them again. I just want to clear things up before it becomes too confusing to unravel, and so that everyone knows what to do in the event they receive a gift.
Here are the instructions along with a link to the original award post still posted on my title page. If you decide to pass along a gift, please copy the instructions highlighted below and list them in your award post, with a request to link back to the gifts original post -as is customary with most award nominations, the only difference here is that these are "gift " awards instead of awards . I apologize for the confusion, and I hope this post is easier to understand - Here are the instructions to go along they are listed in the awards original post.
They come with easy instructions, not like many other Christmas presents that are hard to assemble, so if you receive one of these gifts, read the following instructions: "Now, that you been nominated it's your turn to choose one, two, or all three of these gifts to adopt, and if you decide to pass them on, please pass them to the most magical and imaginative blogs on the internet. Blogs that encourage, year round, the same energetic and imaginative sense of wonder that is apparent throughout the Christmas season."
And again thanks to all of you who adopted and posted a gift award, you're simply the greatest friends a girl could have in the gigantic and sometimes scary world of blogging- and I hope you enjoy the rest of the holiday season.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1667345990857560540-7907971562116848760?l=imaginationcaf
</p>
<div class="post-comments">
1 Comments on <em>Lady Jessica - Everything Eclectic</em>, last added: 6/10/2010</div> <!-- end post-comments -->
<a class = "displaycomment" href="javascript:toggleLayer( "View comments for this post"){kind=small}
Display Comments
That's right you are fucking AWE-some!!!
Give UP on the fucking pool situation! You're screwed six ways to Sunday with that shit!