Robert Edsel's Blog

At Winfield House, residence of the Ambassador of the United States to the United Kingdom, with Anne Olivier Bell and Ambassador Robert H. Tuttle. Photo Courtesy of Robert M. Edsel Collection.

Today is British Monuments Woman Anne Olivier Popham Bell’s 94^th Birthday. Anne is the only living female member of the Monuments section that we have located.  In December 2007, I had the honor of presenting Anne with a flag of the United States which was flown over the United States Capitol in her honor, as well as a gold leaf copy of the Congressional resolution that was passed on June 6, 2007 in recognition of the heroic efforts of the Monuments Men. U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom Robert H. Tuttle and his wife were also in attendance, as well as Anne’s family. It was truly a moving and memorable day. You may read more about Anne in her biography below.

MFAA Officer Anne Popham Bell. Photo Courtesy of Anne Popham Bell.

Anne Olivier Popham Bell (b. 1916)

Civilian Officer Grade 2, British Element, Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFAA)

Anne Olivier Popham was well prepared for work with the MFAA.  From 1934 to 1937, she studied art history at the Courtauld Institute which, combined with her family’s background in art, made her an ideal candidate.  Her father, A.E. ‘Hugh’ Popham, was a distinguished authority on Italian drawings and Keeper of the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, whose collection was transferred for safety to Wales in advance of the German Blitzkrieg on London.  Popham’s ‘war work’ began in 1941 when she joined the Ministry of Information as a research assistant in the Photographs and Publications Divisions.  Popham’s focus centered around the production of informative booklets on the British war effort published by His Majesty’s Stationary Office.  In 1945 she was transferred to the MFAA Branch of the Control Commission for Germany, and in October was stationed at Bünde in Westphalia, the Divisional Headquarters where she coordinated the Branch officers’ work.  Popham’s diaries detail her daily activities during this time and are preserved at the Imperial War Museum in London.

Following her return home from Germany in 1947, Popham joined the Art Department of the Arts Council of Great Britain, where she engaged in the preparation of major exhibitions in London and the provinces, and edited their authoritative catalogues.  In 1952 she married Quentin Bell, who later became Professor of History and Theory of Art at both Leeds and Sussex Universities.  He was the son of Clive and Vanessa Bell (the artist), central figures in the ‘Bloomsbury Group’, of which Vanessa’s sister, Virginia Woolf, was a participant.  After raising three children, Popham worked with her husband on research for his 1972 biography of his aunt, Virginia Woolf, and thereafter undertook the editing of Woolf’s complete Diary (five volumes) for which Popham was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and given two Honorary Doctorates.

Anne Olivier Bell currently lives in Sussex close to Charleston, the Bell family home.  The Charleston Trust, of which she is senior Trustee, has overseen the restoration of the historic house, which is now open to the public.  She is the only known surviving British member of the MFAA, and is still actively associated with the Bloomsbury Group.

Mary Regan Quessenberry 1915 - 2010 (Photo Courtesy of Robert M. Edsel Collection)

Monuments officer and U.S. Army veteran Mary Regan Quessenberry, died today, age 94. Mary was the sole living connection to the beginning of the Monuments Men efforts and the key people whose vision led to their creation.  From Langdon Warner, the great scholar of Asian art and swashbuckling explorer, to Paul Sachs, the founder of the first museum studies course in America, to Mason Hammond, legendary professor of Classics at Harvard: Mary knew them all.  We were so fortunate to find her and film her memories and stories while she was in good health.

Robert M. Edsel, Founder and President of the Monuments Men Foundation, presenting Mary Regan Quessenberry with the Flag of the United States that flew over the Capitol on June 6, 2007. (Photo Courtesy of Robert M. Edsel Collection)

Mary Regan Quessenberry played an important role in the post-war work of the Monuments Men,  a remarkable but small group of 345 men and women from thirteen nations, many of whom were museum directors, curators, artists and architects, who together worked to protect monuments and other cultural items from the destruction of World War II. In the last year of the war they tracked, located and ultimately returned more than five million artistic and cultural treasures stolen by Hitler and the Nazis. Mary assisted with the Monuments Men efforts to return millions of works of art to the countries from which these treasures had been stolen.

Born in Boston on October 10, 1915, Mary Regan attended Radcliffe College and later received a master’s degree in Fine Art from Harvard, where her professors included Monuments Men Paul Sachs, Langdon Warner, and Mason Hammond, all key figures in my new book, The Monuments Men. The United States entered World War II in December 1941. By July 1942 Mary had given up her job as a high school art teacher and was in uniform serving with the WAAC (Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps). Over 400,000 women applied to be part of the first group of women to serve in the US military; only 450 were chosen. She would later become a recruiter for WAC (Women’s Army Corps), where one of the highlights was meeting the Churchill family when they visited Boston. Mary was sent overseas in 1943. Prior to becoming a Monuments officer, she trained with the U.S. Army 8th Air Force under General Doolittle; she was also sent to the Royal Air Force base at Medmenham as part of the Central Interpretation Unit and later, Mary received orders to report to General Carl Spaatz. At that time he commanded the 8th, 9th, and 15th Army Air Corps and led the strategic bombing campaign against Germany reporting directly to General Eisenhower. Mary became “company commander of the 550 WACs who ran Spaatz Headquarters.” For her service as company commander, Mary received a Bronze Star.

L to R: Mary Regan Quessenberry, Mary Churchill and Unknown (Photo Courtesy of NARA)

Following the Allied victory, Mary read in Stars and Stripes that officers with an art history background were needed as Monuments Men. Despite having more than enough points to return home, Mary traveled to Berlin to volunteer for service with the Monuments Men. As a Monuments officer stationed in Berlin, Mary traveled to the Munich Collecting Point, Wiesbaden Collecting Point, various repositories, and badly damaged cities. She worked with fellow Monuments Men Bancel LaFarge, Rose Valland, Charles Kuhn, Calvin Hathaway and others to restitute stolen works of art to their rightful owners. She served as a Monuments officer until 1948, when she retired as a Major after an extraordinary and accomplished military career.

Mary returned home to the United States and taught humanities at the University of Florida, and married her husband Tim Quessenberry in 1965, who preceded her. We shall miss her greatly.

Robert Edsel presents Mary Quessenberry with her copy of the Senate Gold Leaf Resolution which recognized all 350 Monuments Men and women from 13 nations, and an American flag that flew over the Capitol in her honor.

Monuments officer and Army Veteran, Mary Regan Quessenberry, is an extraordinary woman. 94 years young, in full possession of a remarkable memory, and blessed with a piercing sense of humor, this lovely lady provided my small team with a wonderful interview we will always cherish.

This was the third time I’ve been to Boston to visit Mary. We have become friends.  She has so many of the characteristics I have witnessed in the other Monuments Men I have interviewed….gratitude, humility, keen sense of intelligence blended with a wisdom of the years.

Mary is the sole living connection back to the beginning of the Monuments Men efforts and those key people who had the vision that led to their creation.  From Langdon Warner, the great scholar of Asian art and swashbuckling explorer, to Paul Sachs, the founder of the first museum studies course in America, to Mason Hammond, legendary professor of Classics at Harvard, Mary knew them all.  We have been so fortunate to find her and record her memories and stories in time.

This illustrates the race with time with which we’ve been engaged these past 7 years…trying to locate those living witnesses and record their stories and gather their documents while they exist.  With each discovery of someone like Mary, I wonder, will we be fortunate to find someone else?

Anne Popham Bell (Photo Courtesy of Anne Popham Bell's Collection.)

We speak so frequently of “Monuments Men” we oftentimes create the wrong impression that these heroes were all men.  In fact, there were 29 women who served in the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section during its eight years of existence. Fortunately, one of these women is still with us:  Anne Popham Bell.

Anne Popham was well prepared for work with the MFAA, as she studied art history at the Courtlauld Institute from 1934 to 1937. Her father, A.E. ‘Hugh’ Popham was a distinguished authority on Italian drawings, and Keeper of the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, which collection was transferred for safety to Wales in advance of the German Blitzkrieg on London. Anne Popham’s ‘war work’ began in 1941 when she joined the Ministry of Information as a research assistant, first in the Photographs and then in Publications Divisions, largely concerned with the production of informative booklets on the British war effort published by His Majesty’s Stationary Office. In 1945 she transferred to the MFAA Branch of the Control Commission for Germany, and from October was stationed at Bunde in Westphalia, the Divisional Headquarters where she acted as coordinator to the work of the Branch’s officers on the ground. Her detailed diaries of her daily activities are preserved in the Imperial War Museum in London.

Following her return home from Germany in 1947, Popham joined the Art Department of the Arts Council of Great Britain, where she was engaged in the preparation of major exhibitions in London and the provinces, and in editing their authoritative catalogues. In 1952, she married Quentin Bell, who was to become Professor of History and Theory of Art at both Leeds and Sussex Universities. He was the son of Clive and Vanessa Bell (the artist), central figured in the ‘Bloomsburg Group’, of which Vanessa’s sister, Virginia Woolf, was a participant. After raising three children, Anne worked closely with her husband on the research for his acclaimed 1972 biography of his aunt Virginia Woolf, and thereafter undertook the editing of her complete Diary (5 volumes), for which she was appointed FRLS and given two Honorary Doctorates.

Anne Popham Bell filmed on December 3, 2007. (Photo Courtesy of Agon Arts & Entertainment, LLC.)

Anne Popham Bell is a charming woman who, like the other Monuments Men I have interviewed, defers all praise for her work and contribution to the MFAA. She is a distinguished and accomplished member of the arts community. Her love for the arts is so apparent, her desire to preserve history so evident. It has been a great pleasure to get to know Anne and her family and to understand her perspective on World War II and the men and women who made up the “Monuments Men”.