Warren G. Moses History Lecture - Robert M. Edsel

In 1997, in honor of their father’s 80th birthday, Warren G. Moses’ sons made a gift to Newman to establish an annual lecture on World War II. Each year, a speaker with significant insight into World War II addresses the Newman community. We were honored to be able to invite New York Times best-selling author and businessman, Robert M. Edsel to campus for the 26th annual Warren G. Moses History Lecture.

 

Mr. Edsel began his business career in oil and gas exploration. His company, Gemini Exploration, pioneered the use of horizontal drilling technology throughout the early 1990s. In the late ’90s, while living in Florence, Mr. Edsel developed a passion for art and began to think about the methods and planning used to keep art out of the hands of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. In 2000, he moved to New York City and began a concerted effort to learn about and understand the issue. Those efforts became a full-time career in 2004. By 2005 he had gathered thousands of photographs and other documents and began writing the manuscript for Rescuing Da Vinci, which was published in 2006. 

Mr. Edsel’s second book, The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History, was published in 2009 and was the basis of the movie The Monuments Men. In 2007, Mr. Edsel created the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art, which aims "to preserve the legacy of the unprecedented and heroic work of the men and women who served in the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section" – known as the "Monuments Men" – during World War II.  Mr. Edsel's third book, entitled Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis was published in 2013 and debuted on the New York Times bestseller list. 

 

Within his remarks to students, Edsel reflected on the importance of individual action and thinking outside of ourselves for the greater, common good. “You all have a tremendous opportunity at a terrific school like Newman to go out into the world and make a difference,” Edsel said. “It is my hope that you are compelled to move forward and make positive change with all the tools that you have gained here and recognize the power of one person to make a difference when those opportunities present themselves.”

 

An integral part of the lecture series is the Moses Scholars Competition. Mr. Edsel has previously written about the Monuments Men – a group of historians, architects, museum curators and professors who found and recovered countless artworks stolen by the Nazis during World War II. His upcoming book, Remember Us, introduces the citizens of a small province in the Netherlands, who for 80 years have been honoring the graves of 10,000 American soldiers and asks, “Why?” Remember Us is a story about freedom and its cost, about a humanity that knows no national or racial boundaries. It is an inspiring st – timeless yet also timely – about courage and sacrifice that speaks a universal truth: We all want to be remembered—somehow, someway, by somebody.

With this in mind, students were asked to reflect upon the following prompt for this year’s essay contest: Who owns history and whose duty is it to protect it?

Forty-six members of the Junior class participated in this year’s contest, and their responses included a broad range of reflections on the roles of individuals, families, and society at large in owning, sharing, and protecting our personal and collective histories. Students explored the potential of technology and AI in distorting history and its promise as a means to preserve it. They also examined the role of quieted and marginalized voices within society, and the importance of not allowing the victors to eliminate the vanquished.

The winners, as chosen by members of the Newman History Department, were:

Honorable Mention: Georgia Biever, Sofia Clark, Calvin Drake, Ava Guillory, and Evan Sosa

Second Prize: Lexie Toshav

First Prize: Lilly Pollack

Congratulations to this year's winners! We are grateful to the Moses family for making this event possible.

“Do not let anybody tell you that what you want to do is impossible or that it can’t be done. When I started learning about these great preservers of history and doing this work, I had no experience with any of it, I just knew how to get things done. I could tolerate being told something was impossible and being told “no” because I knew that things are possible and that things could be done. You will find allies who care about these “impossible” things and together, you can change the world.” – Robert M. Edsel