I am often asked by friends and acquaintances “Where can we see your presentation?” Too often it seems the locations are quite a distance from Dallas. In fact, I have spoken recently in Vancouver, New York City on several occasions, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and most recently Chattanooga last Thursday evening. What a crowd we had in Chattanooga…more than 500 people attended my lecture at the University of Tennessee!

Fortunately, the fine people at the University Park United Methodist Church have invited me to speak at their great facility on October 28 beginning at 6:30pm. Unlike many of my other speaking engagements, the Church has generously made the evening free to all those who attend. We have worked with officials at UMC to customize a presentation that pays particular emphasis to Hitler and the Nazis’ looting and destruction of churches, synagogues, and other places of worship all as a lead into the telling of the story about civilizations’ heroes, the Monuments Men and women. I will be including several short excerpts from our documentary film, The Rape of Europa, as part of my presentation. It will be a special evening which I hope you can attend…and please bring a friend!

On Thursday I travel to Kansas City to speak at one of the world’s greatest museums, the Nelson-Atkins. This speaking engagement, part of their annual Mary Atkins Series, has sold out for the first time ever — more than 550 people are expected to attend. I am excited about speaking to audiences anywhere, especially groups this large. The Question and Answer portion of the evening always unearths interesting stories and contributes to the information we continue to gather about this important part of our world heritage.

I hope to see you at the University Park United Methodist Church on October 28. The address is 4024 Caruth Blvd at Preston Road (click here for map).

(Getty Research Center, Los Angeles, CA)

During the first week of my blog coming to life I wrote an entry concerning our interest in having help from others on this very important project. Several people responded and I hope others will in the weeks to follow. Talented and committed people are important to us; we need to know what you know to help solve the mysteries of the Monuments Men (and women), missing works of art, and other unsolved aspects of the greatest theft in history. The world’s greatest treasure hunt does indeed continue!!!

I am pleased to announce that, effective the first of September; Ms. Patricia A. Teter will be joining our team in Dallas. Patricia has worked at the Getty Center for the past 15 years, most recently as the Senior Research Editor of the Getty Project for the Study of Collecting and Provenance. Her previous work at the Getty included 4 years as the Editor of the Getty Provenance Index, and prior to that the Name Authority Editor. She also has work experience at the Los Angeles County Museum (LACMA) and was the recipient of a National Gallery of Art Graduate Fellowship. She is among the most distinguished professionals working in the provenance research area in this country.

We are very proud to have Patricia on board and look forward to her years of experience as we track down the numerous leads we have received on the Rescuing Da Vinci website and elsewhere.

(This august group gathered to witness the return to Belgium of Michelangelo’s extraordinary sculpture known as the Bruges Madonna. Standing, from left to right are Lt. Col. Ernest DeWald, MFAA officer in Austria, Emile Langui, Belgian official, Capt. Steven Kovalyak, U.S. Army, Lt. Craig Hugh Smyth, MFAA officer and Director of the Munich Collecting Point, Dr. Andrew Ritchie, civilian advisor to the MFAA in Munich, Cdr. George Boas, U.S. Naval Attache, U.S. Embassy in Belgium, and Maj. Bancel LaFarge, senior MFAA officer with the U.S. 12th Army.)

We have been so focused on finding the Monuments Men and posting their biographies that I have completely overlooked providing everyone with a progress report on our efforts. Sorry — too much focus!!!

The list of Monuments Men (and women) we have created contains 387 names; 357 men and 30 women with a country of origin breakdown as follows:

United States 97 — England 11 — France 2 — Poland 2 — Germany 8
Netherlands 5 — Belgian 3 — Hungary 1 — Czechoslovakia 1

Research Continues 254

In the past year we have located 11 living Monuments Men each of whom is extensively written about on our website, www.rescuingdavinci.com. Additionally, there are 62 Monuments Men who are deceased for whom we have detailed biographies with photographs for many, but not all. (WE NEED YOUR HELP IN FINDING PHOTOGRAPHS OF ANY MONUMENTS MAN OR WOMAN ON OUR WEBSITE FOR WHOM YOU DO NOT SEE A PHOTO POSTED.) There are another 135 Monuments Men for whom we have compiled biographies in various stages of development while further research is being conducted. That leaves 190 Monuments Men who we are still trying to locate and research and develop profiles.

We need all the help we can get on learning more about each Monument man and woman. General information, photographs, family contacts or next of kin, and even basic leads are all helpful to our effort. If you want to help us find these unrecognized heroes and participate in helping us write the final chapter to this incredible story, please forward any information you have to us via this website or the www.rescuingdavinci.com website.Please–don’t assume we know it or have it; all your responses are helpful!!! We can’t have too much information on these great men and women.

(Monuments Officers Lts. Lamont Moore and Sheldon Keck inspect looted Polish treasure found deep inside the salt mine in Grasleben, Germany which they found in April, 1945.)

If you are interested in helping us find the Monuments Men, or have an interest in putting that art history degree to good use, please contact me by forwarding a copy of your resume and a brief description of what you are doing and why you believe you may be of help to our effort. We need researchers–truffle hounds who love a good challenge, people with excellent writing skills, art historians, basically anyone who enjoys being a part of the hunt for UNRECOGNIZED heroes and wants to help us solve some of the greatest mysteries of our time. Don’t just read about intrigue, art thefts, and buried treasure worth millions of dollars: HELP BE A PART OF SOLVING AND FINDING THE REAL THING!!! If you have the time to help, either on a volunteer basis or for pay as an independent contractor, please contact me. It probably won’t make you rich, but it will be an enriching and meaningful experience that you will enjoy for the rest of your life!!