Looking back on the past two years

We have accomplished so much in extraordinary times, and it is because of colleagues like you and your tenacity, your creativity, and your dedication.

It is hard to believe that it has been two years since the COVID-19 pandemic began in our country. As a historian, I am often struck by how much has changed in a relatively short time and by how much we have accomplished as an Institution.

On March 14, 2020, the Smithsonian closed all museums and the National Zoo as a public health precaution. With the expert guidance of our OCIO colleagues, the Institution rapidly pivoted to teleworking, enhancing our digital capabilities and expanding platforms, allowing employees to access our networks from anywhere in the world. Human Resources adapted to the virtual world to bring on board new leaders, museum directors, and employees. Smithsonian Enterprises enhanced their e-commerce business when our museums closed, developing creative products related to our beloved pandas and the arrival of the 17-year cycle Brood X cicadas. When we began opening museums again in May 2020, the re-opening committee’s system for ticketing and timed entry allowed visitors to socially distance during their visit. Smithsonian Exhibits, Visitor Services, and Smithsonian Marketing designed and distributed new signage across our campus to help visitors find their way.

In June 2020, we launched Our Shared Future: Reckoning with our Racial Past to help our country understand and grapple with the legacy of race and racism. In August, the National Zoo and the country welcomed the birth of baby panda Xiao Qi Ji—a much needed good news story. The American Women’s History Initiative also celebrated the centennial of the 19^th amendment by telling lesser-known stories about extraordinary women across all our platforms and museums. One of the ways it did so was through the exhibition Girlhood (It’s Complicated), a joint project of the National Museum of American History and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service that explores the diverse perspectives of what it means to grow up female in the United States.

Our educators and communicators partnered with USA TODAY and launched a continuing series of learning guides designed for low-tech or no-tech households to help address the digital divide by helping students across the country more easily access Smithsonian content. After having its public unveiling postponed due to COVID, the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s exhibition, Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature and Culture, opened to critical acclaim in September 2020. In November, the National Museum of the American Indian opened the much-anticipated National Native American Veterans Memorial. And 2020 closed in exciting fashion for us when Congress passed legislation establishing two new Smithsonian museums. Shortly thereafter, the Institution began the journey towards building the National Museum of the American Latino and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum.

In early 2021, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and several international partners captured and mapped an image of M87’s supermassive black hole in polarized light for the first time. In the summer, we celebrated 175 years of the Smithsonian, accompanied by the Institution’s largest philanthropic gift since its founding. In September 2021, the National Museum of African American History and Culture celebrated the fifth anniversary of its opening with the exhibition Make Good the Promises: Reconstruction and Its Legacies.

We accelerated the implementation of our Strategic Plan by defining five Strategic Focus Areas as a guiding framework for the Institution: our digital capacity, being a nimble and trusted source and reemphasizing our focus on science and education. To that end, last summer, the Smithsonian created the Office of Digital Transformation to home in on a pan-institutional strategy for digital and a future virtual Smithsonian. We also established the SI Civil Program to ensure that all employees can comfortably and anonymously report incidents of harassment, violence, and other behaviors they experience in the workplace. And, in the fall, after a 14-year hiatus, we re-opened the majestic Arts and Industries Building with an exhibition that points us towards the FUTURES.

As a country, we faced a racial reckoning, elected a new president, and, on January 6, witnessed the frailness and strength of our democracy. Throughout the pandemic, multiple crises revealed the extent of the inequalities, injustices, and challenges we collectively face.

The nation also had to navigate openings, closings, re-openings, and re-closings. We coped with masks, vaccines, boosters, testing, contact tracing, social distancing, and quarantines. And we experienced profound sadness and loss.

Yet, through it all, the Smithsonian’s workforce has been a model of resiliency, maintaining its steadfast commitment to public service. Our security personnel have kept our staff, visitors and collections safe. Our facilities and maintenance teams have managed the challenges of ensuring our buildings are safe and operationally sound. And integral to all our efforts has been the leadership of the COVID-19 response team.

We have accomplished so much in extraordinary times, and it is because of colleagues like you and your tenacity, your creativity, and your dedication. It has truly been a testament to the indomitability of the human spirit. Thank you all for everything you have done to keep us moving forward in ways both seen and unseen, especially during the past two years.

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