After nearly 25 years on television, her outfit of choice is easily recognizable — a blazer, dark jeans and a gold detective’s shield.
On Monday, the museum held a ceremony to accept the costume with Hargitay and “Law & Order” creator Dick Wolf. Hargitay wore the clothing in an episode that aired March 21 as part of the TV show’s 25th season. NBC Universal’s donation of the costume commemorates the country’s longest-running prime time television series, which centers on New York City Police Department detectives who investigate sex crimes.
During her remarks at Monday’s ceremony, Hargitay — who has publicly shared that she was raped and runs a nonprofit that advocates for sexual assault survivors — said the costume’s display was about more than the TV show, its audience and her role in it.
“It is my profound hope that what is being enshrined here with this donation is the act of listening,” Hargitay said. “The act of paying deep and purposeful attention to survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse.”
Attempts to reach representatives for Hargitay were unsuccessful Wednesday evening.
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Smithsonian staff have long wanted to add an item from the “Law & Order” TV franchise to its collections, said Anthea M. Hartig, the Elizabeth MacMillan director at the museum. The procedural first aired in 1990 and has inspired multiple spin-offs. The 26th season of the Emmy award-winning “SVU” series, which has been helmed by Hargitay since 1999, premieres next month.
Monday’s donation, which Hartig said was spearheaded by Wolf, included the jeans, a navy blazer and detective’s shield along with a belt, a pair of boots and earrings that Hargitay wore in “Third Man Syndrome,” the eighth episode of Season 25. Its addition comes after the museum in June opened “Forensic Science on Trial,” an exhibition about how science has been used in prosecution efforts. The exhibit features an early sexual assault examination kit, an example of the technology shown in “SVU.”
The costume ceremony and the exhibition opening were not coordinated to be so close together, Hartig said, but they created a “synergy,” highlighting the need for continued advocacy and the nation’s backlog of untested rape kits.
“All museums, especially history museums, want to see their work as giving people safe spaces to have often complicated and challenging conversations,” she said — and to make positive change.
Hargitay made the issue of addressing the rape kit backlog a focus of her organization, the Joyful Heart Foundation, putting pressure on states to count and test accumulated kits. In 2016, the foundation published a report with recommendations for how to notify survivors whose kits have been identified and tested. In the years since, the Joyful Heart Foundation has continued to press the issue and helped give funding to local groups providing resources and support to survivors of sexual assault.
At Monday’s ceremony, Hargitay referenced the museum’s mission statement, which says its work is for “empowering people to create a just and compassionate future.”
“If we are to build that future, who better to listen to than those who have been harmed in order to learn what justice and compassion ought to look like?” Hargitay said.
Hargitay revealed her own experience in an essay she penned for People magazine in January. She had not addressed it publicly for decades, Hargitay wrote, because she “couldn’t believe that it happened.”
“I think I also needed to see what healing could look like,” she wrote, adding that her work with the Joyful Heart Foundation helped her “do the work on the inside,” as well.
In her remarks Monday, Hargitay addressed survivors of sexual violence directly.
“We are listening, and your stories matter in the full story of this country,” she said. “We hear you. We believe you, and your healing is our priority.”
As museum staff and attendees posed for photos beside the costume after the ceremony, Hargitay requested a small change to the gold detective’s badge.
“I wear it a little closer to the belt buckle,” Hartig recalled the actress saying.
With gloves on, a museum collections manager adjusted it.
“I mean, talk about playing a character for that long,” Hartig said. “She embodies the captain.”
