The 2008-09 Minnesota AIA lecture season ended with Cori Wegener's lecture on Cultural Property at War: Lessons from the Iraq Museum, followed by a brief candlelight vigil in remembrance of the looting of the Iraq Museum and the danger that looting presents to cultural heritage worldwide. We were privileged to hear Cori’s first hand account of reconstruction after the looting and the subsequent activities of the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield.

We would like to thank all of our wonderful speakers for sharing their time, research and insights with us. We would also like to thank the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Macalester College and Concordia College for donating lecture space and the Classical and Near Eastern Studies department at the University of Minnesota for underwriting printing and postage costs for the newsletter. And finally, we would like to thank all of our members for their continued support of the AIA.

We look forward to more fascinating lectures in 2009-10 - please check back later this summer for next's season's schedule!