Of the 1.8 million items in his collection National Museum of American History Smithsonian Institution, some may disturb the European visitor. In addition to the first Asteroiese, or the table on which Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, Dorothy’s shoes from The Wizard of Oz and Coltrane’s saxophone are housed in the museum building in Washington. Its halls feature exhibitions with titles such as Disney’s Theme Parks and the American Experience, as well as Entertainment Nation, the latter tracing how music, television, film, sports and theater have shaped the United States. “Americans,” one might say. However, museum director Antija Hartig sees the problem differently.

“Of course, pop culture is part of History,” says “K” Hartig, who in 2018 became the first woman in the museum’s history to take over its leadership. In recent years, he explains, many institutions have realized that a subject can tell a lot about American national identity and its cultural aspects. “I want people to return to this story in any way possible,” he adds. “For example, through a series like M*A*S*H* – I’ll take it. I just want them in this house.”

An American historian visited Athens these days to participate in a symposium Partners for Democracyhosted yesterday at the National Gallery by the US Embassy and the Delphi Economic Forum. The symposium was part of a broader initiative to preserve democracy and promote inclusive society, which also includes the exhibition “A More Perfect Union: American Artists and the Currents of Time”, which began its journey from the Acropolis Museum. At the symposium, Hartig spoke about how history museums can use art to develop critical thinking and foster responsibility and empathy in civil society. Equally important, however, to dealing with contemporary problems such as authoritarianism, he added, is a knowledge of history.

Is there any interest in history in the US today? “I like to say that history has been very busy lately,” he replies. “Especially because of the pandemic and issues related to gender identity, racial discrimination and climate change that have emerged as a cyclone of crises. As for history, I hope people are really more interested in it. The Black Lives Matter movement, the invasion of the Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6, 2022, has served as a wake-up call for many about the possible course of events. Last year, the Smithsonian’s online educational resources attracted 12 million visitors. At best, the museum looks like the largest classroom in history. And it’s important to me that people understand that they are part of that.”

At its best, the museum is like the largest History classroom – it’s important to me that people understand that they are part of it.

How, in her opinion, has the wave of dismantling of slavery-related monuments been affected since the murder of George Floyd in 2020? “In Europe, the importance of monuments is much better known,” says the historian, and continues: “Several monuments of the American Civil War were erected not in the 1880s, but during the period of Jim Crow laws” (ss: which perpetuated racial discrimination), cruel oppression of African Americans and Native Americans. Therefore, some of them were erected very deliberately as symbols of white supremacy. Seeing them crumble and then seeing what communities do with them, realizing how to catalyze the debate about where these monuments belong, is very important in terms of how societies want the next chapter of their history.”

The discussion reaches even older monuments. Hartig follows international developments on the issue of claims and repatriation, and in her opinion, the removal of antiquities from Greece, Africa and elsewhere “was a sign of imperial power in the logic of” we have your objects, therefore we have you “. win because you are the lesser people.”

Sculptures of the Parthenon

Speaking specifically about the sculptures of the Parthenon, he says: “There is something very powerful about the repatriation of objects and works of art. We have seen this with some that belonged to Native Americans. Much of the collection of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington has now moved to Oklahoma, close to the tribes from which it is descended. Their communities held meetings to identify objects and organized a celebration for their return. So I think we should let things go freely, approach them with a spirit of generosity and, of course, legitimacy.”