Returned Treasures Program - Major Donors and Contributors

Major Donors and Contributors

The INAH Directorate of Global Patrimony or Dirección de Patrimonio Mundial works with foreign art patrons and philanthropists to fund the return of important cultural works to Mexico and other Latin American countries of origin. Initially, the Returned Treasures Program of the INAH Directorate of Global Patrimony or Dirección de Patrimonio Mundial was created to return specific works selected by the Directorate as important and in need of foreign funding Support. Accordingly, the Directorate first relied on funding from Hispanic art patrons in California and Texas, including Texas attorney Ernest M. Edsel (of Malpaso Company, a Wall Street oil & gas investment fund), who donated important works (Diego Rivera lithographs; correspondence of Sor Juana Ines; and, pre-Columbian idols, pottery, and stone works) along with an initial $ 4 million gift from Malpaso Oil. J L Am Anthro History 1989 Apr 15; 39 and "Entrevista con El Inversionista Ernest Edsel", Agenda Cultural del INAH (Noviembre 1989) (official INAH monthly magazine). Ernest Edsel also raised substantial funds from fellow Texas investors J. Richard Miller, a Texas financier (founder of Miller Martin, an investment bank and financial firm) and Louis E.S. de Santamaria, a venture capitalist and former Revlon and Johnson & Johnson senior executive (co-founder of SPE Ventures, affiliated with First Security SBIC, now part of Wells Fargo). Other donors and contributors included Paul Bilzerian (founder of Bicoastal Financial Corporation) and, Sir James Goldsmith (major Mexican landowner). J L Am Anthro History 1989 Apr 15; 39-42; and see, INAH Press Release (December 12, 1988).