Amy Henderson

Amy Henderson

 

Amy Henderson, the National Portrait Gallery's historian emerita, is a cultural historian specializing in the lively arts—particularly media-generated celebrity culture. Her books and exhibitions run the gamut from the pioneers in early broadcasting to Elvis Presley, Katharine Hepburn and Katharine Graham.

Diana Vreeland brought a unique perspective to the fashion world.

Amy Henderson: The Fashion-Forward Life of Diana Vreeland

It was Diana Vreeland, whose skill, imagination and discipline, defined the job of a modern fashion editor

Walter Cronkite, Robert Vickrey, 1966, watercolor, gouache and graphite pencil on paper, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Time Magazine

That’s The Way It Was: Remembering Walter Cronkite

A look back at the most-trusted man in news

Duke Kahanamoku, pictured here circa 1915, helped popularize surfing on the mainland and won several Olympic medals for swimming.

Amy Henderson: Team USA!

Guest blogger and Portrait Gallery historian Amy Henderson reflects on the Gallery's Olympian collection

Louis Armstrong embodied stardom in jazz. Photo courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery; gift of Mr. and Mrs. Bob Willoughby

Amy Henderson: Satchmo at the National Press Club

Guest blogger and Portrait Gallery historian Amy Henderson discusses Louis Armstrong and the meaning of stardom

Lady Mary Leiter Curzon by Franz Von Lenbach, 1901

Amy Henderson: “Downton Abbey” and the Dollar Princesses

A curator tells of 19th-century American socialites, who like Cora Crowley, found noble husbands and flushed Britain with cash

Elvis at 21: Presley reads fan mail on March 17, 1956

Amy Henderson: The Medium is the Message

The Portrait Gallery's Cultural Historian Amy Henderson discusses the museum's vision—to tell America's stories as "visual biography"

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