About the Speaker
Anthea M. Hartig, PhD
Elizabeth MacMillan Director
National Museum of American History
ANTHEA M. HARTIG, PhD, 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 262 employees, a budget of nearly $50 million, and a collection that includes 1.8 million objects and over three shelf-miles of archives. She joined the museum in February 2019 with priorities that include completing the museum’s 120,000-square-foot west wing renewal with new arts and culture exhibitions, including Entertaining America, set to open in 2021. Previously, Hartig was executive director and CEO of the California Historical Society. An award-winning public historian and cultural heritage expert, she is dedicated to making the nation’s richly diverse history accessible and relevant. She earned her doctorate and master’s degrees in history at UC Riverside, her bachelor’s degree at UCLA, and studied as an undergraduate and graduate student at the College of William and Mary.
