Role of I Tatti

"When the Committee to Rescue Italian Art (C.R.I.A.) was formed in the United States I Tatti became its Florentine headquarters. The first representatives who came to inspect the situation, Professors F. Hartt and F. Licht, stayed at the Villa as did several of the expert restorers who were sent by the Committee. Meetings were arranged at I Tatti in which the Italian restorers could meet their opposite numbers to discuss technical problems. The initial grants for funds for the work of restoration were made from I Tatti and until March, when C.R.I.A. acquired an office in Palazzo Pitti, the Villa continued to serve as C.R.I.A. headquarters."

Myron Gilmore, I Tatti Newsletter, II (1967). p. 4

 “The presence in Florence of Harvard's Center for Renaissance Studies at I Tatti permitted assistance from CRIA to be immediately effective. Due to the constant work of its director, Prof. Myron Gilmore, I Tatti became the center to which all Florentine cultural institutions turned for help during the crisis. Without his efforts the program of emergency aid which CRIA was to develop during the next few months would not have succeeded to the extent that it did. Joined by other American scholars associated with I Tatti, particularly Eve Borsook, Myron Laskin, Curtis Shell and Jurgen Schulz, Prof. Gilmore oversaw the distribution of CRIA supplies, initiated consultations with the Italian authorities, arranged for periodic inspection trips to all the damaged institutions and arranged for the American restorers to inspect the damage and to take part in the rescue work.”

Bates Lowry, CRIA - 6 month report , p. 1  (CRIA VIT. 01.08.429)