Program update: Anthea Hartig is no longer able to appear. Justin Jampol, our founder and executive director, will take her place on the panel. The program is on as scheduled and is sold out.
The third installment of The Future of History series, presented through the Meyer and Renee Luskin Public History Program at the Wende in conjunction with the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy.
History does not only live in books and classrooms. It lives in museums, libraries, and archives, where institutions work to keep the past within reach of everyone. That work now faces real threats: growing indifference and inattention, misinformation and disinformation, bold revisionism, and the rising specter of artificial intelligence as the final arbiter of historical truth.
This conversation will feature renowned leaders of local and national institutions committed to imparting historical knowledge to a wide public. What are the challenges of the current political, cultural, and technological moment? Can the work of producing reliable and meaningful historical knowledge weather the storm?
Stephen Aron is President and CEO of the Autry Museum of the American West and Professor of History, Emeritus, at UCLA. A historian of frontiers, borderlands, and the American West, he has long worked to bridge academic and public history.
Anthea M. Hartig is the Elizabeth MacMillan Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, the first woman to hold the post since the museum opened in 1964. An award-winning public historian, she previously led the California Historical Society.
Jessie Kornberg is President and CEO of the Skirball Cultural Center, which she has led since 2020. She came to the role after two decades in civil rights and public-interest law, including as CEO of the legal aid organization Bet Tzedek.
David N. Myers (moderator) is Distinguished Professor of History at UCLA and served as founding director of the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy (2017-2026). He convenes The Future of History series.
Tawny Paul (opening remarks) is Director of the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy and a social and economic historian of Britain and the Atlantic World. Her public history work focuses on collaborative history-making and reaching wide audiences.
About the Meyer and Renee Luskin Public History Program at the Wende: This series is made possible through the extraordinary generosity of Meyer and Renee Luskin, visionary philanthropists whose support has advanced groundbreaking research and community engagement across Los Angeles and beyond. Through their commitment to education, policy innovation, and public history, the Luskins have transformed institutions such as UCLA, where the Luskin Center for History and Policy is pioneering efforts to apply historical analysis to contemporary challenges. Their dedication to fostering knowledge and civic dialogue ensures that history remains a vital resource in shaping a more just and informed society.