Each week, the Archives features a woman who has been a groundbreaker at the Smithsonian, past or present, in a series titled Wonderful Women Wednesday.

Each week, the Archives features a woman who has been a groundbreaker at the Smithsonian, past or present, in a series titled Wonderful Women Wednesday.

Each week, the Archives features a woman who has been a groundbreaker at the Smithsonian, past or present, in a series titled Wonderful Women Wednesday.

Marion Stirling Pugh began her career with the Smithsonian in 1931 as a secretary for her future husband, Matthew Stirling, Chief of the Bureau of Ethnology. For the next 40 years, the couple studied Olmec culture and the connection to greater Mesoamerica and South America. Pugh served as the president of the Society of Women Geographers from 1960 to 1963 and from 1969 to 1972. #Groundbreaker

Jeanne Benas was an Assistant Registrar at the National Museum of Air and Space, 1982–85, and an Assistant Registrar and Registrar at the National Museum of American History, 1985–2015. She is a founding member of the Association of Registrars and Collections Specialists. #Groundbreaker

Ann M. Shumard has worked to develop the photography collection at the National Portrait Gallery as an Assistant Curator, 1979–2001, and Senior Curator of Photographs, 2001–present. She has curated more than a dozen exhibitions and serves on the Smithsonian’s Collections Advisory Committee. #Groundbreaker

Jennifer Locke Jones is the Chair and Curator of the Armed Forces Division of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, where she has worked on exhibitions  since 1985. Additionally, she managed reoragnization efforts, fundraising programs, and digitization plans for the museum’s National Numismatics Collection as its Chair between 2012 and 2016. #Groundbreaker

Manjula Kumar was a Project Manager and Project Director in various offices around the Smithsonian, including the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Education and Public Service and the Center for Education and Museum Studies, between 1985 and 2015. She organized multicultural programming and directed the award process for proposals submitted to the Educational Outreach Fund. #Groundbreaker

Dr. Melanie McField is the founding director of the Healthy Reefs for Healthy People Initiative, a collaborative, international conservation program of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, focused on improving the health of the Mesoamerian Reef, since 2006. She leads a team that aims to create reports that measure the health of the region. #Groundbreaker

Dr. Valerie Fletcher joined the research staff at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in 1978 and was promoted to a curatorial role in 1984. Fletcher worked as an Assistant and Associate Curator, 1984–92, Curator of Sculpture, 1992–2005, and Senior Curator, 2005–16. In retirement, Fletcher continues her research at the Museum as Senior Curator Emerita. #Groundbreaker