Embattled Smithsonian director brought ‘Marxist’ activism, political agenda to roles through career: historian

Smithsonian Institution Director Dr. Anthea Hartig has spent decades promoting what one historian described as an activist and Marxist-inspired approach to history, raising questions about whether the nation’s premier museum system is being led by an activist rather than an objective historian.

Dr. Jody Edward Ginn argued that Hartig has worked to pivot traditional historical organizations toward activist missions, including during her time as president of the Organization of American Historians (OAH) and her leadership role at the California Historical Society.

“She’s asserting herself as a historical scholar who should get the last word on these things,” Ginn told Fox News Digital. “Well, there’s more than one problem with that. And it starts with the fact that I don’t think she’s really ever been a historian, she has been an advocate, an activist.”

Ginn said his research into Hartig’s professional background yielded accounts from her former associates indicating that she has “long been known for” pushing such agendas. 

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One early example Ginn cited was Hartig’s 1995 research article, “In a World He Has Created,” published by the California Historical Society, where Hartig later served as an executive director for seven years beginning in 2011.

In the article, Hartig drew on the economic and social theories of Karl Marx to analyze the success of California’s agricultural citrus industry, arguing that a wealthy “ruling class” had manipulated the Southern California landscape to reinforce and validate its own class power, including by physically concealing cheap labor.

By the second paragraph of the article, Hartig referenced photographs depicting the nearby estates and characterized them as “the standard paternalistic, elitist, racist, sexist promotional fare of the age.”

Ginn argued that the article is significant because it “doesn’t read as a historical examination” but instead as a “political treatise.”

“The whole thing does not read as a scholarly historical examination,” Ginn said. “It reads as advocating that for a particular point of view, a Marxist-informed point of view, and not an objective historical analysis.”

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In 2023, Hartig assumed a one-year presidency at the Organization of American Historians, an organization Ginn said is “well on the record for advocating for people’s activism.”

According to the organization’s website, “The OAH actively collaborates with advocacy partners to support history and advance our mission.”

Hartig’s 2024 presidential address, published in the Journal of American History, was titled “Where Have All the Women Gone? Let’s Bring Them Back before It’s Too Late.”

In the address, Hartig asserted that despite decades of activism and historical research, women’s “lives, accomplishments, bodies, and futures matter less.”

Ginn also criticized Hartig’s recent Capitol Hill testimony in July, in which she said the Smithsonian’s work is governed by nonpartisanship and “does not take sides in America’s political debates.”

Ginn said he found the account dishonest, arguing that Hartig’s research background and resurfaced video footage directly contradict her testimony.

The resurfaced video shows Hartig asserting that history should be used as a “tool of social justice.”

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“She’s denying it. That’s the most perplexing thing for me,” Ginn said. 

“That’s kind of the first frustrating thing for me as a scholar,” he added. “It’s kind of hard to have an honest conversation about this, when they won’t acknowledge the obvious.”