Agency history, 2017-2022

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Subject

  • Bunch, Lonnie G
  • Nunn, Tey Marianna
  • Stebich, Stephanie A
  • Gover, Kevin 1955-
  • Harmon, Liz
  • Coren, Ashleigh
  • Schneider, Jennifer
  • Davis, John 1961 September 24-
  • Springuel, Myriam A
  • Cohen, Sara
  • Kim, Kelly Doyle
  • Dowdy, Erin
  • Kapsalis, Effie
  • Kotcho, Carrie
  • Lemay, Kate Clarke 1978-
  • Moss, Dorothy
  • Youmans, Carol
  • Cole, Shelly
  • Holmgren, Meredith
  • Margolis, Emily
  • Nakasone, Sonoe
  • Seidman, Rachel
  • Tate, Angela
  • Wahl, Mariah
  • Delaney, Michelle Anne
  • Montiel, Anya
  • Johnston, Healoha 1979-
  • National Hispanic Cultural Center of New Mexico
  • United States Bureau of the Mint
  • Smithsonian American Women's History Museum
  • National Museum of the American Indian (U.S.)
  • Smithsonian American Art Museum
  • Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
  • National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institution)
  • Smithsonian Libraries and Archives
  • Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
  • Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center
  • National Air and Space Museum (U.S.)
  • Anacostia Community Museum
  • National Museum of African American History and Culture (U.S.)
  • Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative Because of Her Story Cohort Internship Program
  • Smithsonian Institution Office of the Under Secretary for Museums, Education, and Research/Provost
  • Smithsonian Institution Office of the Under Secretary for Museums and Culture
  • Her Story: A Century of Women Writers (Exhibition) (2020-2022: Washington, D.C.)
  • Girlhood (It's complicated) (Exhibition) (2020-2023: Washington, D.C.)
  • Music HerStory: Women and Music of Social Change (Exhibition) (2022-2024: Washington, D.C.)
  • To Live and Breathe: Women and Environmental Justice in Washington, D.C. (Exhibition) (2023: Washington, D.C.)

Category

Agency History

Notes

  • This is an agency history. It does not describe actual records. The Smithsonian Institution Archives uses these histories as brief accounts of the origin, development, and functions of an office or administrative unit to set that unit in its historical context. To find information on record holdings, please double-click the highlighted field "Creator/Author", which will open on a brief view of relevant records.
  • The Torch, "Director named for the Smithsonian's American Women's History Initiative," by Alex di Giovanni, August 3, 2021, https://torch.si.edu/2021/08/director-named-for-the-smithsonians-american-womens-history-initiative/, accessed February 15, 2023
  • Smithsonian American Women's History Museum, https://womenshistory.si.edu/, accessed February 15, 2023
  • SI email announcement, SAWHM/AWHI Realignment, Febraury 14, 2023
  • Email, Schneider to Toda, June 6, 2023
  • Authorized by Congress in 2017 and launched in 2018, the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative (AWHI) amplifies women's voices to honor the past, inform the present and inspire the future. Pan institutional in mission, it showcases objects and stories from throughout the Smithsonian's 21 Museums and research centers, libraries and archives, and the zoo. In doing so, it deepens the knowledge and appreciation of American women's historic contributions. At its outset AWHI's work was guided by co-chairs John Davis, Provost and Under Secretary for Museums, Education, and Research and Stephanie A. Stebich, The Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. In 2020, Kevin Gover, Under Secretary for Museums and Culture, would take over for John Davis, serving as co-chair with Stebich until 2021.
  • In 2021, Dr. Tey Marianna Nunn was appointed Director. Prior to joining the Smithsonian, Nunn was the Director and Chief Curator of the National Hispanic Cultural Center of New Mexico Art Museum and Visual Arts program in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Other central AWHI staff have included Jennifer Schneider, Program Manager; Sara Cohen, Digital Audiences and Content Coordinator; and Kelly Doyle Kim, Open Knowledge Coordinator. Staff detailed to AWHI have included Ashleigh Coren, AWHI Acting Head of Education; Erin Dowdy, AWHI Internship Program Coordinator; Effie Kapsalis, AWHI Head of Digital Strategy; Carrie Kotcho and Myriam A. Springuel, AWHI Co-chairs for Education and National Access; and Kate Clarke Lemay and Dorothy Moss, AWHI Co-Coordinating Curators. Carol Youmans has served as Administrative Officer for the initiative as part of her portfolio of projects, with support from Shelly Cole, Program Specialist.
  • AWHI has funded a variety of curators, archivists, and data specialists for four-year term positions hosted at units throughout the Smithsonian. Throughout the first five years of the Initiative, these term staff have included Ashleigh Coren, Curator of Women's History Content and Interpretation at the National Portrait Gallery, Dr. Liz Harmon, Digital Curator of the History of Smithsonian Women Scientists at the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives; Meredith Holmgren, Curator of American Women's Music at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage; Healoha Johnston, Curator of Asian Pacific American Women's Cultural History at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center; Dr. Emily Margolis, Curator of the History of American Women in Spaceflight, Aviation, at the National Air and Space Museum and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory; Dr. Anya Montiel, Curator of Native American Women and Craft at the National Museum of the American Indian and the Smithsonian American Art Museum; Sonoe Nakasone, Data Specialist at the Smithsonian American Art Museum; Dr. Rachel Seidman, Curator of Women's Environmental History at the Anacostia Community Museum; Angela Tate, Curator of Womenʻs History at the National Museum of African American History and Culture; and Mariah Wahl, Data Specialist at the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives.
  • Externally branded as "Because of Her Story," over the course of five years, AWHI has funded projects across Smithsonian units, exhibitions such as "Her Story: A Century of Women Writers," "Girlhood (It's Complicated)," "Music HerStory: Women and Music of Social Change," and "To Live and Breathe: Women and Environmental Justice in Washington, D.C." AWHI also created a paid summer internship program, the "Because of Her Story Cohort Internship Program," coordinated by Dowdy, in which interns were hosted in partnership with other units. AWHI also made Wikimedia a component of its activities, with Doyle hosting a variety of edit-a-thons in partnership with other Smithsonian units. As required by public law 116-330, AWHI consulted on projects such as the U.S. Mint's American Women Quarters program, with Schneider serving as liasion to the U.S. Mint.
  • In 2019, AWHI published "Smithsonian American Women," steered by Michelle Anne Delaney and project managed by Schneider, a pan-institutional project about the history of women in America told through the Smithsonian's unparalleled collections. In 2021, USA Today published a summer guide to women's history through Smithsonian collections, which was steered by Coren in her role as Acting Head of Education. Coren also led the creation of a women's history coloring book for kids of all ages.
  • AWHI is primarily digital-first in nature, utilizing its website and virtual programs to reach visitors from across the United States. Working with Kapsalis, Schneider helped manage the womenshistory.si.edu website before Cohen took over from 2019 to 2022. Cohen also expanded the role of AWHI's e-newsletter to have curator features. The website content draws from Smithsonian collections and experts, along with a strong educational component including free classroom materials for teachers.
  • On December 27, 2020, Congress enacted legislation to create the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum and then as part of the Smithsonian's fiscal year 2023 budget request, Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch asked Congress to approve the realignment of the American Women's History Initiative (AWHI) into the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum (SAWHM). With the passage of the omnibus appropriations bill on December 29, 2022, the organizational changes were signed into law and AWHI was integrated into the Museum. As SAWHM moves forward, AWHI will continue its mission to help the Smithsonian's 21 museums and research centers better tell the stories of women in American history.
  • For a history of the larger creating unit, refer to "Forms part of" above.

Repository Loc.

Smithsonian Institution Archives Capital Gallery, Suite 3000, MRC 507; 600 Maryland Avenue, SW; Washington, DC 20024-2520

Date

  • 2017
  • 2017-2022

Topic

  • Women
  • Education
  • Museums
  • Museums and women
  • History
  • Women--History
  • Museums--Educational aspects
  • Museum exhibits

Place

United States

Form/Genre

Mixed archival materials

Local number

SIA AH00457

Full Record

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