The Smithsonian Institution has appointed historian Lonnie Bunch as the organization’s new leader.
Bunch will be the first African American and the first historian to hold the position of secretary. As secretary, Bunch will be responsible for overseeing the operations of all nineteen of the Smithsonian’s cultural institutions. Prior to this post, he was the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Cultural. Bunch was appointed director of the NMAAHC in 2005, and was instrumental to the effort to construct the new museum, hire a world-class staff, and amass a collection of over 35,000 objects. Bunch told Smithsonian magazine during the museum’s opening that “my goal for the last 11 years has been to create a museum that modeled the nation I was taught to expect: a nation that was diverse; that was fair; that was always struggling to make itself better—to perfect itself by living up to the ideals in our founding documents.”
The Smithsonian cited Bunch’s efforts at the National Museum of African American History and Cultural as a part of their decision. The Institution tweeted that “Bunch brings a reputation for compelling scholarship and visionary leadership.” In a statement released after receiving the secretary nomination, Lonnie Bunch said that he plans to use his position to make the Smithsonian, “even more relevant and more meaningful and reach more people in the future.”