The Smithsonian Institution has announced the retirement of its secretary, Lonnie G. Bunch III, following seven years in the top role—the first African American and the first historian to hold the position. The 73-year-old Bunch will have spent a total of 38 years working at the Smithsonian in various capacities, 11 of those as the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC).
“It is with very mixed emotions and heartfelt gratitude that I announce my retirement from the Smithsonian,” Bunch said in a statement on Tuesday (8 September). “I have spent nearly half of my life working at and being part of the Smithsonian family, and what a privilege it has been. There is no place like the Smithsonian—it has been one of the great loves of my life, and I am extraordinarily proud of what we have accomplished together. I leave with pride and sadness, gratitude and joy, and with enormous confidence in the people who will carry this remarkable institution forward.”
Bunch’s Smithsonian tenure began in 1978 at the National Air and Space Museum. He would later move to the National Museum of American History, where he became the associate director of curatorial affairs. After leaving for a four-year stint as the president of the Chicago Historical Society, Bunch came back to lead the NMAAHC in 2005. He became the Smithsonian secretary in 2019.
As a historian, Bunch has published more than a dozen books on African American history, US presidents and museums. His most recent book is A Fool’s Errand: Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the Age of Bush, Obama and Trump (2019).
Bunch has also received numerous awards and honours, including France’s Legion of Honour, the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal and lifetime achievement awards from both the American Alliance of Museums and the African American Association of Museums.
“I have had the honour of working with Lonnie Bunch for more than two decades,” Franklin D. Raines, the chair of the Smithsonian’s board of regents, said in a statement. “I have seen firsthand how Secretary Bunch’s leadership of our 21 museums and the National Zoo has illuminated the nation’s past, opened pathways to new knowledge and powered creativity and innovation. These efforts will help create a better shared future for all.”
Raines added that the board will soon announce an acting secretary and announce a national search for a new leader.
Bunch leaves the Smithsonian’s helm as the Trump administration continues to attack its programming and leadership with accusations of “wokeness”. Ever since Trump began his second presidential term in early 2025, he has attempted to re-shape the institution to align with his own politics—largely through executive orders and public battles with museum leadership.
Yet throughout all the turmoil, Bunch has remained cool-headed and diplomatic, treading the line between unwavering support of his staff and professionally responding to the Trump administration’s often outrageous accusations.
“We applaud his strength as a voice for truth, scholarship and professional excellence through nearly two years of ugly, unjust attacks on the Smithsonian,” Ann Burroughs, the president and chief executive of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles and the Daniel K. Inouye National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, said in a statement. “Museums must be places of truth, where we learn and confront the complexity of our nation’s histories—its triumphs and its mistakes. We must all continue to stand against government efforts to erase, censor, or politicise that history.”
Bunch, for his part, has said that his retirement is not a result of political clashes.
“It is time for my next chapter, a chapter that will allow me to continue to protect the integrity of the Smithsonian and to champion the importance of a history that illuminates and celebrates the complex story of our nation,” Bunch’s statement continued. “The Smithsonian has been a reservoir of science, history, art and culture that freely allows the public to find knowledge, understanding, clarity, education, hope and a bit of joy. I will always carry the Smithsonian within me.”
