Lynda Roscoe Hartigan has been named the Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM), Washington DC, the Smithsonian has announced. She will take over from Jane Carpenter-Rock who has served as acting director since September 2024. Roscoe Hartigan will start her new role on 8 September.
Previously, Lynda Roscoe Hartigan was chief curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. In 2003, she joined the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts – where she is currently executive director and chief executive – as its first chief curator. From 2020 to 2021 she served as deputy director for collections and research and chief innovation officer at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.
‘Lynda is a visionary leader whose career reflects a deep commitment to American art, thoughtful scholarship and public engagement,’ said Lonnie G. Bunch III, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. ‘Having begun her career at the Smithsonian, she returns with deep curatorial knowledge and substantial experience that will guide the museum in the years ahead.’
Roscoe Hartigan returns to the SAAM in changing times for the Smithsonian, with the Trump administration launching a review of the Smithsonian Institution in August last year.
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