#621 Smashing Statues - Dr. Erin Thompson

The Not Old - Better Show

Smashing Statues - Dr. Erin Thompson

The Not Old Better Show, Smithsonian Associates Interview Series

Welcome to The Not Old Better Show, Smithsonian Associates interview series on radio and podcast. I’m Paul Vogelzang and we have a wonderful episode today with Smithsonian Associate, Dr. Erin Thompson.

Dr. Erin Thompson, is a professor of art crime at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and is a leading expert in the legal, political, and social issues involved in such battles. As America’s only professor of art crime, Dr. Thompson studies the black market for looted antiquities, art forgery, museum theft, and the ethics of digital reproductions of US cultural heritage.

Dr. Thompson’s new book Smashing Statues: The Rise and Fall of America's Public Monuments and her upcoming presentation at Smithsonian Associates are the subject of our conversation today. More details are found on our website and at Smithsonian Associates with links in our show notes.

A timely and fractious national debate over public monuments has erupted in America. Some people risk imprisonment to tear down long-ignored hunks of marble; others form armed patrols to defend them. Why do we care so much about statues? And who gets to decide which ones should stay up and which should come down? American holds thousands of historical monuments…

That of course is our guest today, author Erin L. Thompson as she traces the turbulent history of American monuments and its ironies—starting with the enslaved Black man who helped make the statue of Freedom that still sits atop the U.S. Capitol—and explores the surprising motivations behind such contemporary flashpoints as the toppling of a statue of Columbus at the Minnesota State Capitol in 2020.

Please join me in welcoming to The Not Old Better Show Smithsonian Associate’s interview series on radio and podcast, author, professor of art crime and Smithsonian Associate Dr. Erin Thompson.

For more information, please click HERE:

https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/smashing-statues