Saint-Gaudens Medal Awarded to Historian and Author Harold Holzer
Originally published April 2023 · pp. 21
Saint-Gaudens Medal Awarded to Historian and Author Harold Holzer The Saint-Gaudens Memorial, a partner of and advocate for the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park (SGNHP) in Cornish, N.H., awarded the Saint Gaudens Medal to Lincoln Forum Chairman Harold Holzer in a New York ceremony held Jan. 9. The award honors his outstanding contributions as an authority on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War era.
Harold Holzer. Throughout his career, Holzer has recognized Augustus SaintGaudens as the sculptor who set the standard for civic monuments commemorating Lincoln with Abraham Lincoln: The Man (Standing Lincoln) (1884-87) and Seated Lincoln (1897–1906), both for Chicago. “We proudly present this medal to Harold Holzer,” said SaintGaudens Memorial president Thayer Tolles. “He has engaged a broad audience, bringing a wealth of insights into our ever evolving understanding of Lincoln as man, president, and icon. His engagement with portrayals of Lincoln in the visual culture of the United States complements the Memorial’s longstanding commitment to fostering the enduring legacy of SaintGaudens.” Tolles, a curator of American sculpture at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, was a longtime colleague of Holzer’s during his decades as a Met senior executive. Holzer is the author, co-author, or editor of 55 books on Lincoln and the Civil War era, as well as more
Robert W. White, The Augustus Saint-Gaudens Medal, 1992, silver.
than 600 articles and reviews for popular magazines and scholarly journals. His book Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion (2014) won both the Gilder-Lehrman Lincoln Prize and the Mark Lynton History Prize from the Columbia University School of Journalism. His most recent book, published in 2020, is The Presidents vs. the Press: The Endless Battle Between the White House and the Media from the Founding Fathers to Fake News. Holzer served for six years (2010-16) as chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, and for the previous 10 years as co-chair of the U.S. Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, appointed by President Bill Clinton. In 2008, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President George W. Bush. He is a co-founder and current chairman of The Lincoln Forum, a national organization dedicated to enhancing the understanding and preserving the memory of Abraham Lincoln. Holzer has served on the advisory boards of many Lincoln and Civil War magazines and museums, and recently wrote the authorized biography of the sculptor of the Lincoln Memorial: Monument Man: The Life and Art of Daniel Chester French. Holzer has had a long career in the interconnected worlds of press, publicity, history, and politics. For 23 years, he was Senior Vice President of External Affairs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since 2015 Holzer has served as The Jonathan F. Fanton Director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College in New York. “I want to express my sincere thanks for this wonderful, and wholly unexpected, honor,” said Harold Holzer. “For a ‘Dan French’ man to be recognized with the prestigious Saint Gaudens Medal suggests that the creative synergy that once existed between those two giants continues to animate the study of, and appreciation for, American sculpture. I am so grateful to the Saint-Gaudens experts who first introduced me to Cornish, invited me to speak there, helped me with my research on Monument Man, and continue to educate and inspire me. And of course, to the Daniel Chester French community, and my Metropolitan Museum family, let me say how glad I am that we remain interconnected in pursuit of, and appreciation for, these
extraordinary artists.” Over the course of his career Holzer has spoken and written extensively on the visual arts, focusing on Civil War print culture, sculptural representations of Lincoln, and American public monuments. In 2016, Holzer delivered keynote remarks at the unveiling of a recast of Standing Lincoln at the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park, on the occasion of the centennial of the National Park Service. “In his art-related scholarship Harold Holzer has consistently highlighted Saint-Gaudens and his important relationships with fellow artists of his time, most recently in his award-winning biography Monument Man: The Life and Art of Daniel Chester French (2019) in which SaintGaudens receives prominent consideration,” commented Donna Hassler, Director Emerita, Chesterwood, National Trust for Historic Preservation, and also a trustee of the Saint-Gaudens Memorial. The Saint-Gaudens Medal, established in 1988, is awarded from time to time to those who, by their talents and vision, have made a distinguished contribution to the arts in the United States in the high tradition of sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848– 1907). The Saint-Gaudens Medal has been given thirteen times. The award was last presented in 2021 to art historian Wanda M. Corn in recognition of her longstanding commitment to the preservation and stewardship of historic artists’ properties throughout the United States. Prior to that the medal was awarded in 2019 to Dartmouth College Library for its exemplary care and preservation of the papers of Saint-Gaudens, as well as those of other Cornish Colony artists and the Saint-Gaudens Memorial. Other recipients include historian and author David McCullough (2016); historian and author James B. Atkinson (2014); and museum director Earl A. Powell III (2005). The medal was designed in 1992 by sculptor Robert W. White (1921–2002), a trustee of the Saint-Gaudens Memorial from 1972 to 2002 and grandson of architect Stanford White, a frequent collaborator with Saint-Gaudens. The Saint-Gaudens Memorial is a nonprofit organization incorporated by the state of New Hampshire in 1919 as a permanent memorial to honor Saint- Gaudens’s legacy and to safeguard his home, studios,
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gardens, and collections in Cornish. The organization donated the property and contents to the federal government in 1964 to create the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, operated by the National Park Service and renamed in 2019 the SaintGaudens National Historical Park. The Saint-Gaudens
Memorial sponsors exhibitions, concerts, artist fellowships, and educational programming at the park, open to the public seasonally from May to October. To plan visits, please refer to the SGNHP website for the most current information on hours, fees, and conditions: nps.gov/ saga.
Congratulations from former NYC Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (L) and Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab.
The Holzer family joins the celebration: from left, grandson Charles, son-in-law Adam, Harold, daughter Remy, and wife Edith.
Harold Holzer (R) receives Saint-Gaudens Medal from Saint-Gaudens Society president and noted sculpture curator Thayer Tolles. (Photos courtesy Hunter College).
Photographs from the Original Article
Captions and credits appear in the article text as originally printed.