Introduction

This book profiles some of the handful of people who rescued significant cultural treasures that would or may have been otherwise lost to humankind. Some, like Dr. Assad, were on a noble mission, but that is not always the case. Some are motivated by profit, fame, gratitude, or personal advancement. The act of rescue may not be straightforward: even the most heroic ones can be tainted, suspect, illegal, or ethically equivocal.

The ten stories in The Rescuers include a variety of objects, motivations, locations and historic periods. They include a Scottish prehistoric site; Soviet-era seed banking; mid-20th century photographic masterworks; African American and immigrant folk music; Alaskan Native ceremonial and cultural objects; and a German language, Czech author whose manuscripts now reside in an Israeli archive.

While each is a unique story, it is also representative of similar cases. Chapters explore some of the most controversial issues facing society today: appropriation, repatriation, indigenous rights, copyright law, racism, and the impact of tourism on fragile cultural sites.

What does the act of rescue mean? What is the psychology of those who commit these acts? Should the imperatives of society trump the rights of individuals to control their own legacy? Is it more ethical for a museum to preserve cultural treasures or to return them to a tribe that might destroy them? What are the trade-offs between economic development and historic preservation? These are the conundrums of today, the challenges of the future.

Stories Included

The Monuments Officers' recovery of cultural treasures stolen by Nazis

The saving of Skara Brae in Scotland by the Laird of Breckness

The rescue of the Iraqi Jewish Archive by Harold Rhode and Doris Hamburg

Tom Cade's preservation of Peregrine falcons

Louis Shotridge and George B. Gordon's saving of Alaska's Tlingit culture

The preservation of American folk songs by John Lomax