Scholar of early medieval iluminated manuscript. Böckler studied art history at the university in Berlin under the medievalist art historian Adolph Goldschmidt. He remained a friend of his mentor his entire life. His 1921 dissertation was on a Stuttgart Passionale (manuscript) of Hirsau held in the Württembergische Landesbibliothek which Böckler selected as an example of a document from a South German monastic reform movement. After graduation, Böckler joined the Preussische Staatsbibliothek (Berlin State Library).

Architectural historian. Kostof attended Robert College, an English-language university-preparatory school in Istanbul. He moved to the United States in 1957 to study drama at Yale University. He switched to art history after hearing the lectures of Vincent Scully, Jr., studying under him as well. Following his Ph.D. in 1961, whose dissertation written under Scully was on the Orthodox Baptistry of Ravenna, he taught at Yale.