2024 | A fireside chat with Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

Recorded April 25th, 2024. The Trinity Long Room Hub Annual Humanities Horizons Lecture for 2024 was delivered by Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. The Annual Humanities Horizons Lecture was established in 2013 to provide a significant contribution to reflection on and advocacy for the Arts and Humanities. About Lonnie G. Bunch Lonnie G. Bunch III is the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian. He assumed his position June 16, 2019. As Secretary, he oversees 21 museums, 21 libraries, the National Zoo, numerous research centers and several education units and centers. Two new museums—the National Museum of the American Latino and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum—are in development. Previously, Bunch was the 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 8 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. Learn more at: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/