The Smithsonian American Women's History Museum is a future Smithsonian Institution museum dedicated to women's history, to be located in Washington, DC. The museum was established by Congress as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, which became law on December 27, 2020. [1] Development of the museum is expected to take at least ten years. [2]
Lisa Sasaki was appointed as the museum's first interim director in March 2021. [3] [4] Elizabeth C. Babcock was publicly named the museum's director in March of 2024 and assumed the role in June of the same year. [5]
In August 2021, the Smithsonian Board of Regents established an advisory council for the planning, design, fundraising, and development of the museum. Founding members of the council include Secretary of the Smithsonian Lonnie Bunch, fashion designer Tory Burch, actress Lynda Carter, and tennis champion Billie Jean King. [6] [7]
The Smithsonian Institution, or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge." Founded on August 10, 1846, it operates as a trust instrumentality and is not formally a part of any of the three branches of the federal government. The institution is named after its founding donor, British scientist James Smithson. It was originally organized as the United States National Museum, but that name ceased to exist administratively in 1967.
The Newseum was an American museum at 555 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, in Washington, D.C., dedicated to news and journalism that promoted free expression and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, while tracing the evolution of communication.
The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers.
The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center is a historical museum in Washington, D.C. It collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is the original Star-Spangled Banner. The museum is part of the Smithsonian Institution and located on the National Mall at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.
The Arts and Industries Building is the second oldest of the Smithsonian museums on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Initially named the National Museum, it was built to provide the Smithsonian with its first proper facility for public display of its growing collections. The building, designed by architects Adolf Cluss and Paul Schulze, opened in 1881, hosting an inaugural ball for President James A. Garfield. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971. After being closed since 2004 for repair and renovation, the building reopened in 2021 with a special exhibition, Futures.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's largest and most inclusive collections of art, from the colonial period to the present, made in the United States. More than 7,000 artists are represented in the museum's collection. Most exhibitions are held in the museum's main building, the Old Patent Office Building, while craft-focused exhibitions are shown in the Renwick Gallery.
The National Museum of African Art is the Smithsonian Institution's African art museum, located on the National Mall of the United States capital. Its collections include 9,000 works of traditional and contemporary African art from both Sub-Saharan and North Africa, 300,000 photographs, and 50,000 library volumes. It was the first institution dedicated to African art in the United States and remains the largest collection. The Washington Post called the museum a mainstay in the international art world and the main venue for contemporary African art in the United States.
Johnnetta Betsch Cole is an American anthropologist, educator, museum director, and college president. Cole was the first female African-American president of Spelman College, a historically black college, serving from 1987 to 1997. She was president of Bennett College from 2002 to 2007. During 2009–2017 she was Director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art. Cole served as the national chair and 7th president for the National Council of Negro Women from 2018 to 2022.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), colloquially known as the Blacksonian, is a Smithsonian Institution museum located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was established in 2003 and opened its permanent home in 2016 with a ceremony led by President Barack Obama.
The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States, and was established in 1910. The CFA has review authority over the "design and aesthetics" of all construction within Washington, D.C. In accordance with the Old Georgetown Act, the CFA appoints the Old Georgetown Board. The Old Georgetown Board has design review authority over all semipublic and private structures within the boundaries of the Georgetown Historic District. The CFA was granted approval authority by the Shipstead-Luce Act over the design and height of public and private buildings which front or abut the grounds of the United States Capitol, the grounds of the White House, Pennsylvania Avenue NW extending from the Capitol to the White House, Lafayette Square, Rock Creek Park, the National Zoological Park, the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, Potomac Park, and the National Mall and its constituent parks.
Tory Burch is an American fashion designer, businesswoman, and philanthropist. She is the Executive Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of her own brand, Tory Burch LLC. She was listed as the 88th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes in 2020.
Rachel Eva Goslins is an American non-profit leader, museum director and documentary film director. As of October 2023, she is the executive director and Chief Creative Officer of the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, a cultural center in Washington DC. Prior to this, she was Director of the Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Building. She was previously head of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities under President Obama, launching several initiatives in education and cultural diplomacy, and organizing a campaign for arts education.
Lonnie G. Bunch III is an American educator and historian. Bunch is the fourteenth secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the first African American and first historian to serve as head of the Smithsonian. He has spent most of his career as a history museum curator and administrator.
John Gray is an American businessman and museum administrator. He was the director of the National Museum of American History until 2018 and a former president and CEO of the Autry National Center.
Jay Howard Matternes is an American painter, paleoartist, and naturalist. His work recreating early mammals from the Oligocene, Miocene, and Pliocene epochs was widely published in the 1950s and '60s, including in the Time Life Books series. His work is in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of Natural History. His restorations frequently appeared in magazines such as National Geographic and Time, making him among the best-known scientific illustrators. Six Matternes murals were removed during renovations from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in 2014, and several are planned to be reinstalled when renovations to the museum's Fossil Hall are scheduled to be completed in 2019.
Spencer Crew is an American professor, museum director, curator and writer.
Melanie Adams is an American educator and museum administrator. She is director of the Anacostia Community Museum in Washington, D.C., a unit of the Smithsonian Institution, and was named interim director of the yet-to-open Smithsonian American Women's History Museum in July 2023.
Kim Sajet is a Nigerian-born art historian, curator, and museum director. She has been the director of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery since 2013, and is the first woman to serve in that role. During her tenure at the museum, she has worked to increase representation of women and minorities in the Portrait Gallery's collection.
Cita Sadeli is a D.C. based art director, muralist, designer and illustrator. Sadeli has worked with the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the Smithsonian Institution.