Interim Director Named For Smithsonian’s American History Museum
Marc Pachter, former director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, has been appointed Acting Director of the National Museum of American History, effective Aug. 15. He will replace Brent D. Glass, who announced that he was leaving the directorship in August and retiring from Smithsonian at the end of the year.
Pachter was with the Portrait Gallery for 33 years, beginning as a chief historian in 1974 and serving as director from 2000 until his retirement in 2007. He held a number of positions at the Gallery and at the Smithsonian when he served as chair of the Institution’s 150th anniversary celebration in 1996 and as a deputy assistant secretary for external affairs. Pachter retired in October 2007, one year after the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which share the same historic building, reopened after an extensive six-year renovation.
“We are happy to welcome Marc back home to the Smithsonian,” said Richard Kurin, Under Secretary for History, Art and Culture. “Marc was always an asset to the Institution as a museum director, scholar, author and interviewer. He knows the Institution so well and even served as acting director of American History once before. In 2001-02, he filled in while we searched for a new director at the same time he continued as director of the Portrait Gallery.”
Pachter was named Acting Director of American History in November 2001 and served until December 2002. His tenure included the creation of “September 11: Bearing Witness to History,” the commemorative exhibition about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which opened on the second anniversary of the attack.
Pachter, a long-time Washington resident, has agreed to serve until a permanent director is named, according to Kurin.
Nearly $9 million dollars in grant money is available from the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) to help states and local communities acquire and preserve threatened Civil War battlefield land.
Complete guidelines for grant eligibility and application forms are available online at: http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp/grants/LWCF/LWCFAcquisitionGrants.htm.
The National Park Service is now accepting applications and will continue to do so until all funds have been awarded. Last year, Land & Water Conservation Fund Civil War Battlefield Land Acquisition Grants funded 26 projects in six states totaling $8,995,628. The grants ranged in size from $14,000 for the preservation of the Bentonville battlefield in North Carolina, to a $1.9 million award which helped acquire 84 acres of the Spring Hill battlefield in Tennessee.
“These grants offer an opportunity for states and localities to preserve our nation’s threatened Civil War battlefields,” said Jonathan B. Jarvis, Director of the National Park Service. “We look forward to helping communities across the country preserve their historic resources as our nation begins the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.”
Criteria to consider in the applying for the Civil War Battlefield Land Acquisition Grants include:
- The LWCF Civil War Battlefield Land Acquisition Grants are awarded through a competitive process to units of state and local governments.
Private non-profit groups may apply in partnership with state or local government sponsors; - Each grant requires a dollar-for-dollar non-Federal match.
- Grants are available for the fee simple acquisition of land, or for the acquisition of permanent, protective interests in land at Civil War battlefields listed in the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission’s (CWSAC) 1993 Report on the Nation’s Civil War Battlefields.
- Higher consideration will be given to proposals for acquisition of endangered lands at battlefields defined as Priority I or II sites in the CWSAC report.