After a 17-month search, the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) in Washington D.C. today appointed Lynda Roscoe Hartigan its new director. Hartigan, who is leaving the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts, will step into the role on September 8. “I am honored to help shape the museum’s next chapters,” Hartigan said in today’s announcement, “and to work with its remarkable network of staff, supporters, and partners to expand opportunities for people to engage with American creativity—an essential anchor for exploration and understanding in our rapidly evolving times.” Hartigan began her decades-long museum career working at SAAM, joining its curatorial staff in the 1970s. In 2003, she came on as the Peabody Essex Museum’s first chief curator. She became deputy director there in 2016, overseeing a new wing and a new focus on genres like photography and fashion.…