Lonnie Bunch — LLMpedia

Lonnie Bunch
Name	Lonnie Bunch
Birth date	1952
Birth place	Passaic, New Jersey
Occupation	Historian, museum director, author
Known for	Founding director, National Museum of African American History and Culture; Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

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Lonnie Bunch is an American historian, museum director, and author who served as the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture and later as the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He has worked at institutions including the Chicago Historical Society, Smithsonian National Museum of American History, and the National Museum of American Jewish History, and has written on subjects intersecting African American history, American Revolution, and the history of public memory. His leadership linked museum practice with scholarship associated with figures and events such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, Civil Rights Movement, and Great Migration.

Early life and education

Bunch was born in Passaic, New Jersey and raised in Newark, New Jersey, growing up during the era following the Brown v. Board of Education decision and amid migrations connected to the Great Migration and urban transformations studied by historians like Ira Berlin and Eric Foner. He earned degrees from Rutgers University and completed graduate work at Columbia University and American University, where he studied topics related to the historiography advanced by scholars such as John Hope Franklin, Carter G. Woodson, and W. E. B. Du Bois. His early mentors and contemporaries included curators and historians affiliated with the New-York Historical Society, Library of Congress, and the National Archives.

Bunch began his professional career at the Newberry Library and later held curatorial and administrative positions at the Chicago Historical Society (now Chicago History Museum), where he worked on collections and public programs related to figures like Jane Addams, Martin Luther King Jr., Harold Washington, and events such as the World's Columbian Exposition and the Great Chicago Fire. He directed the National Museum of American History's efforts on exhibitions connected to Slavery in the United States, Segregation, Reconstruction, and artifacts associated with Rosa Parks, Thurgood Marshall, and Jackie Robinson. Bunch also served as director of the National Museum of American Jewish History before founding a national project that brought together donors, scholars, and political leaders including members of Congress, the White House, and private foundations linked to the Annenberg Foundation and Ford Foundation.

As founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Bunch steered the project from concept through construction on the National Mall, collaborating with architects and designers like those from David Adjaye Associates and firms associated with the Smithsonian Institution Building. He coordinated artifact acquisitions and loan agreements involving collections tied to Muhammad Ali, Madam C. J. Walker, Ella Fitzgerald, Langston Hughes, Nina Simone, and objects from the Underground Railroad and Tuskegee Airmen. Under his leadership the museum opened with programming that engaged presidential administrations including those of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, congressional leaders from both parties, and cultural figures such as Oprah Winfrey, Spike Lee, and Toni Morrison. Bunch later became Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, overseeing museums and research centers including the National Air and Space Museum, National Zoo, Anacostia Community Museum, and coordinating initiatives connected to the National Museum of American History and international partnerships with institutions like the British Museum and the Louvre.

Bunch authored and edited books and exhibition catalogs that discuss themes alongside scholars and writers such as Diane Nash, Julian Bond, Benjamin Franklin, Zora Neale Hurston, and W. E. B. Du Bois, addressing topics like African American military service, industrial labor, and public history practice exemplified at institutions like the Smithsonian Institution and the New-York Historical Society. His publications place artifacts and narratives in dialogue with events and documents including the Emancipation Proclamation, 13th Amendment, Civil Rights Act of 1964, and letters associated with figures like Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. He has contributed essays and forewords for catalogues produced in conjunction with exhibitions at the Library of Congress and the National Archives.

Bunch's honors reflect recognition from civic and cultural organizations such as the American Alliance of Museums, the National Humanities Medal, and awards named for figures like Carter G. Woodson and John Hope Franklin. He has received honorary degrees from universities including Howard University, Georgetown University, Rutgers University, and recognition from civic bodies in Washington, D.C. and from philanthropic organizations including the Ford Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation.

Bunch resides in the Washington metropolitan area and has been involved with boards and advisory councils associated with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, American Association of Museums (now American Alliance of Museums), and academic programs at institutions such as Columbia University and American University. He has participated in national conversations alongside presidents, members of Congress, and leaders of cultural institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art.

Category:American historians Category:Museum directors Category:Smithsonian Institution people