Montgomery History will honor journalist Connie Chung with a new oral history studio when it opens its new Montgomery History Center in downtown Rockville on September 6.
The Connie Chung Oral History Studio will be housed inside the historic Farmers Banking & Trust building at Courthouse Square, where Montgomery History is creating a new center for exhibits, lectures, and the Jane Sween Library and Special Collections. The organization, founded in 1944, is in the middle of a $12 million capital campaign for the project.
Chung, a Montgomery County broadcasting icon, attended Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring and the University of Maryland in College Park. She became the first woman to co-anchor the CBS Evening News and the first Asian American to anchor a network news program. She is also the author of Connie: A Memoir, which was released in 2024.
Montgomery History said the studio will expand its oral history program by helping record stories from county residents representing communities from around the world. The announcement comes during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
“Asian Americans now comprise 16 percent of the population in Montgomery County,” Montgomery History executive director Matt Logan said. “As an Asian American and as a woman in a male-dominated field, Connie Chung opened doors for her generation and all who came after.”
Chung said she was honored by the recognition. “It has been a privilege to live in the county and now, to be named in such a valued way, is beyond my wildest dreams,” Chung said.
The Montgomery History Center is scheduled to open on September 6, the 250th anniversary of Montgomery County’s founding in 1776. State Delegate Lily Qi and Rockville-based civil rights leader Aryani Ong will help lead planning for a campaign to raise awareness and funds for the studio.
