Understanding our cultural heritage
Photos by Evan Krape October 23, 2024
14th Secretary of the Smithsonian shares his experiences and the importance of preserving artifacts
When Lonnie Bunch III, 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian, was appointed founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in 2005, he was tasked with building the new museum’s collection, though some people told him that African-American artifacts were either already in museum collections or simply didn’t exist.
Bunch proved that sentiment wrong as he traveled the country finding artifacts, including a photograph of his grandmother, Leanne Brodie Bunch, taken in 1910, that was gifted to him by a woman he’d never met before.
“I realized that was what was so successful about the museum — that people were waiting to tell stories, to share their history, and that there were amazing things that were still in basements, trunks and attics of people's homes,” he told the audience at the Oct. 14, 2024, annual Paul R. Jones Lecture, A Conversation about Cultural Heritage.
The event was moderated by 2015 master’s alumna Shannon Brogdon-Grantham, photograph and paper conservator, Museum Conservation Institute, Smithsonian Institution; and art conservation Ph.D. student LaStarsha McGarity, interim director and preventive conservator, Legacy Museum at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama.
Spirituals and a Cadillac
Bunch shared that he loved discovering where artifacts came from and the personal stories that give richness to a collection. He passed along a few NMAAHC stories, both humorous and poignant.
When Bunch contacted Chuck Berry to ask for one of his guitars, the famed “Maybellene,” the music legend agreed, but only if the museum also took his 1972 candy apple red Cadillac, and only after a museum staff member named Kevin soothed Berry’s ire about donating to the federal government who had been taxing him for years.
“I got on the phone, and I said, Mr. Berry, what do we have to do to get you to trust me? He said, ‘Have your guy eat lunch with me.’ So I said to Kevin, whatever he serves, eat it,” Bunch said.
Kevin was served 25 ice cream sandwiches and ate 13 before Berry signed the agreement. And, it turns out that the candy apple red Cadillac is the most visited item at the museum.
Then there was the first time Bunch saw the hymnal of spirituals Harriet Tubman carried with her on journeys south. He was moved to tears. As a historian, Bunch didn’t think there were Tubman artifacts to be found, but Philadelphia-area collector Charles L. Blockson donated the hymnal, along with photographs, household items and manuscripts of speeches to NMAAHC.
Bunch said Block could have sold his collection for millions, but he opted to donate it to the Smithsonian so the public could see these artifacts documenting Tubman’s life.
“That hymnal is something that I think about every day, because it's something very simple, but it really speaks volumes about a belief in a better day, about resiliency, about hope, about fighting the good fight to change a nation,” Bunch said.
Helping a nation
In his 38 years at the Smithsonian, Bunch has seen changes in how government officials view the institution, which is about 62% federally funded, but he maintains that stories like the ones he shared, and the objects that represent those stories, help people understand what it means to be American. By providing diverse viewpoints, museums can help people understand that it’s okay to debate, to disagree and to have nuance.
“I think there is nothing more important than cultural institutions playing a crucial role during a time of partisanship and division. I would argue that the best cultural institutions are part of the glue that holds a country together, holds a community together,” he said.
“Part of the job of a place like the Smithsonian is, yes, to do the traditional work in art, science and history, to be that place of wonder and discovery. On the other hand, that's not enough. You have to be a place for the greater good. You have to figure out if places like cultural institutions are trusted and use that trust to bring people together,” he continued.
Opportunity and understanding
Bunch said that the sense of discovery is the best part of working at the Smithsonian.
“Museums give you the best canvas in the world to paint, the best canvas to engage people, the best canvas to learn about yourself,” he said.
This is something he first experienced as a child traveling south from New Jersey to visit family in the 1960s. Bunch asked his father to stop at museums they passed in North Carolina, not understanding that segregation was still a barrier in the South.
On the drive home, Bunch’s father surprised him with a detour to Washington D.C. to visit the newly opened National Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History), telling young Bunch that this was where he could go to learn history without worrying about the color of his skin.
“I remember feeling that the Smithsonian gave me such a gift as a 10-year-old kid. The Smithsonian said, ‘Here. Here is knowledge, here’s an opportunity, here’s understanding.’ I owe the Smithsonian more than it owes me,” he said.
Local impact
During the question and answer session, sophomore honors history education major Alex Tóth asked Bunch for advice on garnering support for the local Newark Historical Society, where Tóth is a board member.
Bunch encouraged Tóth to identify those local leaders who support the museum, and identify and educate upcoming leaders on why it’s important to the community and why they should care.
“You cannot be a cultural leader without being political, without understanding that you have to build allies. It’s not enough to be smart, to be right, to be good. You have to also be political. Approach it not as an evil you have to do, but as part of the life,” Bunch said.
The message resonated, and the messenger inspired.
“When Dr. Bunch came to campus, the distance between Newark and Washington, between a history student and the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, went from almost insurmountable to a matter of a few feet,” Tóth said after the lecture.
“Lonnie Bunch reinforced the 'why' behind museums' missions: we help people remember and understand, and that is a power and a responsibility that must be used wisely,” Tóth continued.
“By choosing what we display, we are essentially choosing whose stories get told. That's never an easy choice to make, but I feel more confident thinking about that with such a strong example as Dr. Bunch's to follow.”
Lonnie Bunch III was awarded the University’s Medal of Distinction from President Dennis Assanis and Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Chair of the Department of Art Conservation Debra Hess Norris on behalf of the Board of Trustees.
The award recognizes individuals who have made humanitarian, cultural, intellectual or scientific contributions to society, who have achieved noteworthy success in their chosen professions, or who have given significant service to the University, community, state or region.
About Paul R. Jones Lecture
Funded by the College of Arts and Sciences, the Paul R. Jones Annual Lecture is a university-wide event dedicated to arts practitioners and scholars. The lecture honors art collector Paul R. Jones (1928-2010) and his gift of African American art to the University of Delaware. Since the collection arrived at UD two decades ago, the university has supported a wide range of research and curricular programming using African American art as a point of departure. This includes American art and culture in dialogue with Africa and its Diaspora. The Annual Lecture underscores the significance of Black arts to humanistic studies and showcases individuals whose contributions to the field are exemplary, interdisciplinary, and inspiring. To view the lecture, click here.
About Lonnie Bunch
Lonnie G. Bunch III is the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian. He assumed his position on June 16, 2019. As Secretary, he oversees 21 museums, 21 libraries, the National Zoo, numerous research centers and several education units and centers.
Previously, Bunch was the founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. When he started as director in July 2005, he had one staff member, no collections, no funding and no site for a museum. Driven by optimism, determination and a commitment to build “a place that would make America better,” Bunch transformed a vision into a bold reality. The museum has welcomed more than 11 million visitors since it opened in September 2016 and has compiled a collection of 40,000 objects that are housed in the first “green building” on the National Mall. In 2019, the creation of the museum became the first Smithsonian effort to be the topic of a Harvard Business Review case study.
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