"Philanthropy is an act of positive diplomacy," said Gilles Pécout, president of the National Library of France (BnF), who has set out to raise the €7.7 million needed to purchase a new collection of manuscripts by writer Marcel Proust. Half of the sum has already been collected through donations by French patrons. Pécout, an academic and former diplomat, is now turning his gaze toward long-standing American donors. These benefactors had already contributed €2.9 million to an extensive restoration of the BnF's Richelieu site.

Among them was Mark Pigott. The discreet businessman and chairman of the truck manufacturing company Paccar has continued his partnership with the BNF. In 2025, he wrote the institution a new check for €400,000 to equip a laboratory, and he was recently approached to support the restoration of the Salle des Vélins ("Vellums Room") at the BnF's Richelieu site.

French cultural institutions have always maintained close relationships with the United States, where ultra-wealthy individuals traditionally give back to society (often out of a sense of obligation) through tax-deductible donations. For example, in 2024, at the Louvre alone, the museum's "American Friends" raised $10 million (€8.5 million) for a future department dedicated to Eastern Christians. Funds raised from the US are rarely so high; for a French museum, such amounts can make a real difference.

You have 73.46% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.