Watch the live webcast of the Smithsonian Material Culture Forum on Monday, May 13, 4-6 pm! See below for the event schedule.

From its grand strategy to the personal stories of individual soldiers, the history of D-Day remains a captivating and rich story. To usher in the 75th anniversary of the battle, the Smithsonian presents, “Forgotten Voices, Forgotten Objects,” a forum exploring avenues of historical inquiry, highlights of Smithsonian and non-Smithsonian collections, and expert research on the topic. RSVP for the webcast here.

112^th Meeting of the Smithsonian Material Culture Forum

75^th Anniversary of D-Day: Forgotten Voices, Forgotten Objects

Monday, May 13, 2019, 4–6 p.m. EDT

INTRODUCTION
Michelle Delaney, Senior Program Officer for History and Culture, Smithsonian Office of the Provost and Under Secretary for Museums, Education, and Research and Todd Kinser, Chief of Exhibit Planning, Smithsonian Exhibits

WELCOME
Susan Ades, Director, Smithsonian Exhibits

MODERATOR
Richard B. Frank, a lawyer and military historian, has written several books and articles on the Pacific Campaign of World War II, including Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle (1990), Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japan Empire (1999), and MacArthur (2007).

SPEAKERS (View the program booklet here)
Kate Clarke Lemay, Ph.D, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Gratitude, Trauma and Repression: D-Day in French and American Collective Memory

Frank A. Blazich, Jr., Ph.D, Curator, Modern Military History, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
The Magic Boxes of D-Day: How One Humble Invention Helped Make Operation Neptune Possible

Laura Oviedo, Ph.D, ABD, Smithsonian Fellow, Division of Armed Forces, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Belonging in War and Nation: Latina/os & World War II

Krewasky A. Salter, Ph.D, (Guest) Associate Curator, National Museum of African American History & Culture, Smithsonian Institution
African Americans, D-Day and World War II

Rebecca Head Trautmann, Project Curator, National Native American Veterans Memorial, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution; Herman J. Viola, PhD., Senior Advisor, National Native American Veterans Memorial, and Curator Emeritus, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution
National Native American Veterans Memorial

Megan Harris, Reference Specialist, Veterans History Project, Library of Congress
“I Hardly Know Where to Start”: Personal Narratives of D-Day within Veterans History Project Collections

Greg Elder, Chief Historian, Office of Corporate Communications, Defense Intelligence Agency
Intelligence Support to Operation OVERLORD

Jeremy R. Kinney, Ph.D, Curator, Aeronautics Department, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Flak-Bait: A Story of Survival from World War II

Shannon Perich, Curator, Photographic History Collection, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Exploring Robert Capa’s Iconic D-Day Photographs

Q&A—Moderator: Richard Frank, Historian

The Material Culture Forum was organized in 1988 with a mission of maintaining the sense of a scholarly community throughout the Smithsonian museums, libraries, and research and cultural centers.  The Forum considers topics from the vast world of objects that the Smithsonian collects, preserves, studies, and presents.