Anthea M. Hartig

Anthea M. Hartig is the Elizabeth MacMillan Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the first woman to hold the position since the museum opened in 1964. Hartig oversees 216 employees, a budget over $48 million and a collection that includes nearly 2 million objects and more than three linear shelf-miles of archives. She officially began her tenure Feb. 18, 2019.

Currently, Hartig is leading a vibrant new strategic plan to take the museum through the 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026 and beyond. It challenges the museum to be the most accessible, inclusive, relevant and sustainable public history institution. Stewarding a growing collection represents unparalleled challenges and opportunities for the museum. Its mission of empowering people to create a more just and compassionate future by preserving, sharing and interpreting the complex history of the United States motivates and humbles her daily in serving 2 million visitors at the museum on the National Mall (projected 2024) and over 10 million guests online (2022–2023).   

An award-winning public historian and cultural heritage expert, Hartig was the executive director and CEO of the California Historical Society in San Francisco prior to joining the Smithsonian. In addition, she was the director of the Western Region for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, taught undergraduate and graduate courses in U.S. history and public history, worked for two city governments, served under two California governors and has been involved in historic preservation and public history projects since the 1990s.

Hartig is a third-generation native of Southern California, where she grew up in the greater Pomona Valley. She earned her doctorate and master’s degrees in history at the University of California, Riverside, and her bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dedicated to public service and non-profit advocacy, Hartig has served on numerous California State Commissions, task forces and boards, including the California Preservation Foundation, National Council for Public History and, most recently, she was the past president of the Organization of American Historians.

The National Museum of American History houses some of the Smithsonian’s best-known treasures: the Star-Spangled Banner, the flag that inspired the words for the National Anthem; the hat worn by President Abraham Lincoln the night he was assassinated; the writing desk used by Thomas Jefferson as he drafted the Declaration of Independence; the Woolworth lunch counter that was the site of the 1960 student sit-in in Greensboro, North Carolina; and Dorothy’s ruby slippers worn in the movie The Wizard of Oz now on view in the museum’s new “Entertainment Nation”/“Nación del espectáculo” exhibition.

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