Transnational Philanthropy

This book provides a collective biography of the Mond family and explores the philanthropic activities of Ludwig Mond and of his two sons Alfred and Robert in the field of art collecting, the fight against early childhood mortality, the advancement of research and of higher education, archaeological excavations in Egypt and Palestine, and for the founding of the State of Israel from the 1890s to the late 1930s. These activities resulted in the creation of the Bibliotheca Hertziana in Rome, the donation of Ludwig Mond’s art collection to the National Gallery in London, the funding of the excavation of  the sacred Buchis Bulls at Armant in Egypt, the establishment of the Children’s Hospital in London, and the support of many natural science institutes and associations in England, France, Germany, and Italy.

“The Mond and Brunner families, well known to business historians as pioneers of the British chemical industry, are being studied here for the first time as philanthropists, and it is an astonishing story that Thomas Adam has to tell. Several generations of the Monds gave the wealth they had made in chemicals away most generously for the fine arts and museums, for hospitals and medical research, and for archaeological institutes and scientific explorations. This book will be indispensable not only to all scholars of philanthropy but also of family history and of transnational socio-economic networks that developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Europe and North America.” (V.R. Berghahn, Columbia University, USA)

“This great scholarly achievement opens the door to a continent of philanthropy that, as the history of theGerman-Jewish-British Mond family, belongs to the most remarkable stories of its kind. An expert in the field of transnational history, Thomas Adam, explores the vast contributions of Ludwig, Alfred, and Robert Mond to science, archaeology, and infant health care, illuminates the ill-fated art donation to the London National Gallery and the well-placed commitment to the Zionist cause.” (Frank Trommler, Professor Emeritus of German, University of Pennsylvania, USA)

Thomas Adam is Professor of Transnational History at the University of Texas at Arlington. He has published extensively in the field of transnational history and the history of philanthropy. His publications include Buying Respectability: Philanthropy and Urban Society in Transnational Perspective and Intercultural Transfers and the Making of the Modern World.