In 1966, Joseph H. Hirshhorn announced he would donate his art collection to the Smithsonian Institution which would be housed in a museum named for him and located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden opened to the public in October 1974. Abram Lerner, who had begun working with Joseph H. Hirshhorn in 1954 and became Curator of Hirshhorn's collection in 1955, was appointed Director of the Museum in 1967. Upon his retirement in 1984, he was succeeded by James Demetrion, who served as Director, 1984-2001.