The Monuments Men and Women Foundation is a nonprofit organization created to raise worldwide awareness about the service of the Monuments Men and Women, honor them for their achievements during and after World War II, and complete their unfinished mission of returning looted and missing art to the rightful owners.
President George W. Bush awarded the Foundation the National Humanities Medal in 2007, the highest honor in the U.S. for work in the humanities and, in 2015, after eight years of advocacy by the Foundation, Congress awarded the Monuments Men and Women of all fourteen nations the Congressional Gold Medal.
Bow Bridge was retained by the Foundation in 2019 to develop and distribute a press release about new leadership, following up with local, national/international media. In 2022, Bow Bridge was re-engaged to promote the announcement of a ceremony celebrating the graduation of the inaugural class of the Army Monuments Officer Training program at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. A central goal of both engagements was to raise the profile of the Foundation through media coverage and stimulate interest in the organization.
Top Photograph: Monuments Man Lt. Frank P. Albright, Polish Liaison Officer Maj. Karol Estreicher, Monuments Man Capt. Everett Parker Lesley, and Pfc. Joe D. Espinosa, guard with the 34th Field Artillery Battalion, pose with Leonard da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine upon its return to Poland in April 1946. Photo courtesy of the Monuments Men Foundation. Inset Photograph: Monuments Man Capt. James Rorimer oversees the evacuation of artwork from Neuschwanstein Castle by American military personnel near Füssen, Germany. Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.