Anthea M. Hartig

Anthea Marie Hartig (born 1964) is an American historian and museum administrator who is the director of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. The Smithsonian trustees appointed Hartig as director beginning in 2019, succeeding John Gray. She is the museum's first female director.

With a background in historic preservation and museums, Hartig was earlier the director of the California Historical Society.

Early life and career Hartig was born in 1964 into a family with a long history in California. Her great-grandfather was a sheep rancher near Chino, California, and her grandfather and father both lived in the Pomona Valley in Southern California. Her mother's family, however, is largely based in Rhode Island. Hartig was raised in Rancho Cucamonga in San Bernardino County, California, where she attended and graduated from the local public school system. She also founded her own preservation consulting firm.

Dr. Hartig was an assistant professor of history at La Sierra University from 2000 to 2005, teaching history and cultural studies. She also taught graduate courses in historic preservation at UC-Riverside.

Preservation career In 2005, Hartig was appointed director of the Western Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This was not only the Trust's largest geographic region but also its most architecturally, culturally, and historically diverse. CHS was struggling as an organization and museum. During Hartig's tenure, she raised $20 million in a capital fundraising campaign, launched the organization's first digital library, and significantly raised attendance at CHS museum exhibits from a few thousand to more than 100,000. She won funding from the state of California, which had not contributed to the organization before, and quadrupled the CHS annual operating budget to $5.2 million. The report cited Hartig's public statements describing history as a "prime tool of social justice" as evidence for its conclusions.

On July 21, 2026, Hartig testified before the House Oversight Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, becoming the first senior Smithsonian official publicly questioned by Congress over the administration's campaign to reshape the institution. Rebutting Republican lawmakers' accusations that she sought to "rewrite" American history, Hartig testified that the museum's work is governed by Smithsonian standards of scholarship, accuracy, independence, and nonpartisanship. Three days later, Trump signed a further executive order, "Restoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution", which asserted that the museum's leadership could not be trusted to present American history accurately and directed federal agencies to press for the changes identified in the report, including installing National Park Service signage outside the museum informing visitors of its findings.

Other roles and honors Hartig has served on the board of directors of a wide range of local, state, and national history and historic preservation organizations, including the California Council for the Promotion of History and the California Preservation Foundation. As of 2018, she also served as a cultural resources specialist for the California State Park and Recreation Commission.

Dr. Hartig has authored several books and a number of articles in academic and professional journals.

Hartig received the 2011 California Preservationist of the Year Award from the California Preservation Foundation in recognition of her contribution to the cause of historic preservation in California.

Personal life Hartig is the mother of two sons.