The military tradition is rife with symbology and gifts of meaning. Nations and their armies have developed rich traditions of gifts and gift giving over the years. The collection of gifts and other art at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth is representative of these traditions.

The Command and General Staff College has been educating military officers for service to the nation since 1881. International military officers began attending the college in 1894. The CGSC art and gift collection traces its beginnings to 1943 at the height of World War II with a plaque from the Polish delegation attending the college. Over the years CGSC has amassed a collection of gifts of art objects and other items that provides a physical representation of the historical significance between the college and the nations it serves. Until the “Art of War Initiative” began in summer 2016 with a partnership between the CGSC Foundation and the Todd Weiner Gallery, the general public has never truly had an opportunity to see this collection.

The CGSC Art and Gift Collection contains objects with unique aesthetic preferences and originality of symbolism that characterize the relationships between soldiers, armies, and nations.  The collection presents a one of a kind historic view of strategic learning within the context of a geopolitical exchange of aesthetic and symbolic objects. – It is time for this collection to be professionally preserved and shared with the public.

The Art of War Initiative put forth by the CGSC Foundation, Inc., will preserve, promote, and protect the life and longevity of the over 3,800 items in the art and gift collection of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, as well as provide capital for the mission and goals of the Foundation in order to elevate the collection to the status of national treasure that it should be.

The vision of the Art of War Initiative is to preserve, educate, celebrate and engage. Specifically, we will preserve by fully cataloguing the collection; educate with published and video projects; celebrate and engage by using objects from the collection in exhibits both within the college and the community; plan for the future with an endowment; and finally protect the collection by designing and reimagining the collection storage and display for the foreseeable future.