The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden's (HMSG) Department of Education was set up to interpret the Museum's collection to a broad and varied public. It produces information on the HMSG's collections designed to appeal not only to professional artists and art scholars, but also to the general public and to children. In support of its aims, the Department uses a wide variety of media, including a corps of trained volunteer docents, as well as printed materials of all sorts, films, lectures, and concerts.
The Department of Education was created in 1973, and Edward P. Lawson was recruited from New York's Whitney Museum to be its Chief, a position he held from 1973 to1994. Other staff include Teresia Bush, c.1980- , most recently as Senior Educator; and Linda Powell, Education Program Director, c.1997- . From 1997 to 1999 the Department was incorporated into a Department of Art and Public Programs but regained independent status in 2000.
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Agency History. Record 221106
