Description: Dr. Sharon F. Patton, Director, Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art, 2003-2008, oversaw the museum’s 9,000 African art objects and welcomed the distinguished Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection. Under her leadership, the museum opened its first traveling exhibition and established a visiting artists program. #Groundbreaker
Description: Polly Willman, Conservator of Costumes, Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, 1988–99, supervised staff and treated costume and textile objects for the museum’s major exhibitions, including for the redesign of the First Ladies Hall. #Groundbreaker
Description: Dr. Anthea M. Hartig, Elizabeth MacMillan Director, Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, became the first woman to ever lead the museum in 2019. She oversees more than 250 employees, a budget of $40 million, and 1.8 million objects. #Groundbreaker
Description: Since 2009, Janice Stagnitto Ellis has been the senior paper and book conservator at Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Between 1992 and 1999, Ellis worked as a senior book conservator at the Smithsonian Institution Libraries. In her current role at the Museum, Ellis supervises the day-to-day operations of the Paper Conservation Lab. She is responsible for the
Description: Dr. Melissa Chiu, Director, Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 2014–present, oversees a staff of 50 and a collection of 12,000 objects. Within the first year of her tenure, Chiu doubled the number of museum board members, and, in 2017, the Hirshhorn Museum met a milestone of one million visitors. #Groundbreaker
Description: For Preservation Week, our team answered our burning, often ignorant questions about their biggest challenges, what they consider when treating objects, and beyond.
Description: 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.
Description: Though small in stature, Elvira Clain-Stefanelli was a force to be reckoned with at the Smithsonian, where she earned the role of the first executive director of the National Museum of American History’s National Numismatic Collection.
Description: Thanks to a generous grant from the Smithsonian Women’s Committee, the Archives will digitize, catalog, and make available 7,500 historic photographs of the Smithsonian from Record Unit 95.
Description: 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.
Description: In the midst of Smithsonian's busy season, we’re providing tips for visitors through the lens of photographs from the opening of the Renwick Gallery in 1972.
Description: To celebrate Black History Month, we’re sharing two recently-digitized video clips featuring exhibitions from the Anacostia Community Museum in the 1980s.