After a 17-month search, the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) in Washington D.C. today appointed Lynda Roscoe Hartigan its new director. Hartigan, who is leaving the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts, will step into the role on September 8.

“I am honored to help shape the museum’s next chapters,” Hartigan said in today’s announcement, “and to work with its remarkable network of staff, supporters, and partners to expand opportunities for people to engage with American creativity—an essential anchor for exploration and understanding in our rapidly evolving times.”

Hartigan began her decades-long museum career working at SAAM, joining its curatorial staff in the 1970s. In 2003, she came on as the Peabody Essex Museum’s first chief curator. She became deputy director there in 2016, overseeing a new wing and a new focus on genres like photography and fashion.

In today’s announcement, SAAM emphasized that Hartigan possesses international museum experience, citing her stint as the Royal Ontario Museum’s deputy director for collections and research as well as its chief innovation officer from 2020 through 2021. From there, Hartigan returned to serve as the Peabody Essex Museum’s first female executive director and CEO. In this role, she grew strategic initiatives related to fundraising, digital engagement, and more.

Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture, home to the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery of the Archives of American Art in Washington, D.C. Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian.

At SAAM, Hartigan succeeds Jane Carpenter-Rock, who has held the title of Acting Director since 2024, when Stephanie Stebich’s seven-year tenure concluded with claims that she fostered a hostile work environment. When Hartigan assumes her post this autumn, Carpenter-Rock will return to her previous position as SAAM’s deputy director for museum content and outreach.

Hartigan is taking the reigns at a challenging time for the Smithsonian Institution’s 21 museums as it has come under increased political pressure. SAAM, in particular, was one of three Smithsonian institutions that President Donald Trump singled out in his “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” executive order last April, demanding that all Smithsonian venues honor a strict narrative of American excellence—or risk the 62 percent of their budget that the federal government traditionally supplies. SAAM is also one of eight Smithsonian museums that Trump has subjected to an audit.

Numerous Smithsonian personnel have departed since Trump took office, including the National Portrait Gallery’s director Kim Sajet, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s director Kevin Young. But, it seems Hartigan is in it for the long haul. In a statement, Smithsonian secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III has said she “returns with deep curatorial knowledge and substantial experience that will guide the museum in the years ahead.”