Dr. Brent Glass, Director Emeritus of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, wants you! (to experience history)
Brent Glass (Lafayette ’69) has a lifelong passion for history and storytelling, which led him down a career path to introduce others to history in the most engaging, educational, and entertaining ways. As the Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History from 2002 to 2011, he oversaw a renovation that enabled the museum to expand, modernize, and improve the visitor experience. Under his leadership, attendance grew to more than 4 million visitors per year.
In the process, Glass unexpectedly became a “history celebrity” with appearances on The Colbert Report and The Oprah Winfrey Show, and an invitation to the White House.
Helping Stephen Colbert become a “national treasure”
During the two-year renovation when the museum was closed, Glass led an effort to maintain visibility for the museum with appearances on The Colbert Report. Satirist Stephen Colbert met with Glass and lobbied him to include a portrait of himself in the “Treasures of American History” exhibition, alongside Abraham Lincoln’s hat and Irving Berlin’s piano.
Glass went along with the joke and initially rejected the portrait, so Colbert went across town to the National Portrait Gallery. That museum accepted the painting and hung it next to the bathrooms, where it became a hit with Colbert fans, who streamed in and lined up to take selfies. It brought a lot of publicity to the museum.
When the National Museum of American History reopened in 2008, Glass “relented” and agreed to accept the Colbert portrait as part of the collection, demonstrating that so-called “history nerds” have a sense of humor too.
Meeting Oprah and Obama, oh my!
Glass was a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2008, bringing some “classic Americana” artifacts from the museum to discuss their relevance in American culture. The artifacts included Dorothy’s red slippers, Rocky Balboa’s boxing gloves, and the Fonz’s leather jacket from Happy Days.
In 2010, the museum lent a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation to the White House. Glass was invited by President Barack Obama to the Oval Office, where, surrounded by civil rights leaders, he spoke about how the end of slavery was a gradual progress that ended only with the passage of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Glass never sought fame or celebrity. He accepted the invitations as “an opportunity to reach a large audience and talk about the value of what we do at the Museum of American History, what the Smithsonian does to fulfill its mission for the ‘increase and diffusion of knowledge.’”
Defending the documentation of history
Glass strongly believes the study and preservation of history comes from deep research by dedicated historians. He said, “The Smithsonian museums are highly trusted institutions, and that is because we trust the audience. We believe people are capable of understanding that history is complicated sometimes, and it’s not just good guys versus bad guys. Progress only occurs through struggle, strong leaders and collective action. I think overcoming barriers is part of the American Dream.”
He has concerns with how the current administration is altering museum exhibits “in a way that will distort the true record of American history.”
In a recent interview with Jake Tapper on CNN, Glass talked about the importance of historical organizations being independent in their research and findings. He said, “It’s not about ideology; it’s about critical thinking.”
For Glass, history was a journey
Glass was influenced by his father, who was an avid reader of WWII history. When he was 10, a family trip to the Smithsonian was transformative. He said, “I remember that made a big impression on me. It was a formative experience. I like the idea of telling stories. And I particularly liked the idea of telling stories about things and places that had authenticity. The power of place is a unifying theme that guided my work in this field.”
He was also influenced by his education, saying, “I had some really good teachers in junior high school, high school and college who made history accessible.”
Though a career in history was never really a consideration for him, when enrolled in the PhD program at Chapel Hill, he discovered a field called public history. He said, “One of the first positions I held involved researching, documenting, and preserving historic places, and I became an expert in industrial history. I became more interested in a career in museums, historic sites, and the history of memorials and monuments.”
A trusted source for museums
After leaving the Smithsonian, Glass started a consulting business that focuses on management issues at museums, strategic planning, board development, executive search, and fundraising.
Some of his more than eighty clients include the Presidio Trust and Golden Gate Conservancy in San Francisco, the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, and the New York State Museum in Albany. He also specializes in cultural diplomacy projects in Vietnam, China, Egypt, Russia, Slovenia, Serbia, Portugal, and Lithuania.
Pilam and the ties that bind
Glass joined Pilam because he felt he had more in common with Pilam brothers and was welcomed by our brothers more than other fraternities on campus. He said, “There was a feeling of acceptance and welcoming.”
He still makes it a priority to maintain connections with his brothers, and on Saturday mornings, he and his brothers “get together via Zoom and talk about politics, the world, and other topics of special interest.”
In 2018, Glass was awarded the Pi Lambda Phi Big Pi Award for his career accomplishments.
The rest is history
Inspired by his appreciation of historical places, Glass published 50 Great American Places: Essential Historic Sites Across the U.S. in 2016. With a foreword by David McCullough, Glass included a wide variety of places that represent significant themes of freedom, war, innovation, cultural diversity, and landscapes. His next book will be a similar approach with sites located outside the U.S. that reflect themes of American history.