‘Thanks a bunch, Lonnie’: Smithsonian staffers ‘clap out’ retiring secretary
Lonnie Bunch, the Smithsonian Institution secretary who will retire this year, was honored Monday by his colleagues.
Bunch grinned as he stepped out of an SUV at the National Museum of African American History and Culture and found colleagues past and present, all there to greet him. Some wore pins that said “Thanks a bunch, Lonnie.”
“He’s a superb historian. He’s a superb leader. He’s a very creative thinker, and he has done a marvelous job leading the Smithsonian for the last seven years,” former employee Harold Closter said.
Bunch was walking into his last board of regents meeting. As he made his way through the chorus of claps, he thanked his colleagues.
“What’s wonderful is all these people. This is why you do this work. The Smithsonian has 7,000 gifted public servants who give everything they can to make America better. There’s nothing better than this,” he said.
Bunch has worked for the Smithsonian for 38 years. He took over as secretary in 2019, becoming the first Black person and historian to do so.
His retirement comes amid criticism from the Trump administration of how the institution portrays America’s past.
Some of Bunch’s supporters say they worry about what will become of the institution without him.
“We have the greatest respect for what he has done with the museums because, unlike the narrative which is coming from the White House that the Smithsonian tells a negative story or ideological story about American history, what anyone will see if you actually come here is that it tells everybody’s story,” said James Millward of Citizen Historians for the Smithsonian.
“Looking forward, what we really want to see is that Smithsonian continues to be able to tell full stories and really tell the complexity of our nation and the way that, you know, he’s really made possible for the organization,” said former Smithsonian employee Isabella Bruno.
Bunch is set to retire in December. The Smithsonian Institution is searching for his replacement.
Hundreds of citizens are walking the halls of famous museums documenting exhibits as part of a project called Citizen Historians for the Smithsonian. News4’s Tracee Wilkins reports.
