Elaine Heumann Gurian

Elaine Heumann Gurian is a consultant and advisor to museums and visitor centers that are beginning, building, or reinventing themselves. She specializes in advising government museums that are undergoing significant change. In 2004, she received the Distinguished Service to Museums Award, America’s most important museum honor, from the American Association of Museums who also inducted Gurian as one of the 100 Centennial Honor Roll members. Over the past 35 years, Gurian has served as acting director, Cranbrook Institute of Science; deputy director, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; deputy director for public program planning, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution; deputy assistant secretary for museums, Smithsonian Institution; director of the Exhibit Center, Boston Children’s Museum; and director of education, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. Her collected writings, Civilizing the Museum, was published in 2006, and her publications are used in many museum studies programs. In 2008, Gurian spent three months in Buenos Aires as a Fulbright Scholar creating a bilingual museum studies bibliography. She lectures and teaches nationally and internationally and has held various elected positions in the national and international museum communities.

Presentations

• The Dialogue: The MCA Chicago’s annual conversation on museums, diversity, and inclusion