George Leslie Stout (1897–1978)

George L. Stout played a lead role in locating, protecting, and retoring to their rightful owners European monuments and works of art during and after World War II. He was one of first members appointed to the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section of the U.S. Army, known as the Monuments Men." He wrote a publication with W.G. Constable, a Harvard colleague, entitled "Brief Manual of Safeguarding and Conservation in the Field." Along with architect L.B. (Louis Bancel) La Farge, Stout was one of the first Monuments Men to go ashore at Normandy after the D-Day invasion. As the Allies progressed through France and Germany, he was on the front lines with the 12th Army Group, helping to rescue cultural treasures in places like Caen, Maastricht, Aachen, and in repositories of looted works in Siegen, Heilbronn, Cologne, Merkers, and Altaussee. He left Europe in July 1945, and in October went to Japan, where he had volunteered his services as a Monuments Officer. He became Chief of the Arts and Monuments Division at Headquarters of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers in Tokyo, and stayed there through mid-1946. For his work in Europe, George L. Stout received the Bronze Star Medal. Before the war, he was a research fellow at Harvard, where he was named head of the conservation department at the Fogg Art Museum in 1933. In 1947, he became director of the Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, and in 1955 became director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, where he remained until his retirement in 1970.