A library in rural Alaska wanted assist offering free Wi-Fi and getting children to learn. A kids’s museum in Washington needed to broaden its Little Science Lab. And a World Warfare I museum in Missouri had a raft of historic paperwork it wanted to digitize. They acquired funding from a little-known federal company earlier than the Trump administration unsuccessfully tried to dismantle it final 12 months.
The Institute of Museum and Library Companies is now accepting functions for its 2026 grant cycle. However this time, it has unusually particular standards.
In cowl letters accompanying the functions, the institute mentioned it “notably welcomes” tasks that align with President Donald Trump’s imaginative and prescient for America.
These would come with people who foster an appreciation for the nation “via uplifting and constructive narratives,” the company writes, citing an government order that assaults the Smithsonian Establishment for its “divisive, race-centered ideology.” (Trump has mentioned the museum centered an excessive amount of on “how dangerous slavery was.”) The company additionally factors to an government order calling for the top of “the anti-Christian weaponization of presidency” and one titled Making Federal Structure Stunning Once more.
The solicitation marks a stark departure for the company, whose pointers have been beforehand apolitical and centered on benefit.
Former company leaders from each political events, in addition to these of library, historic and museum associations, expressed concern that funded tasks might encourage a extra constrained or distorted view of American historical past. Some additionally feared that by accepting grants, establishments would open themselves as much as scrutiny and management, just like the administration’s wide-ranging audit of Smithsonian reveals “to evaluate tone, historic framing and alignment with American beliefs.”
The brand new pointers are “chilling,” mentioned Giovanna Urist, who served as a senior program officer on the company from 2021 to 2023. “I believe that we simply want to have a look at what’s taking place with the Smithsonian to know that the administration has a really particular purpose in thoughts relating to controlling the voice of organizations and museums throughout the nation.”
An company spokesperson instructed ProPublica it isn’t uncommon for the institute to publish administrators’ letters with grant functions, and that this one informs readers “about this Administration’s thematic emphases within the semi-quincentennial 12 months.” He didn’t touch upon criticisms that these letters insert political themes right into a traditionally nonpartisan program.
“Underneath President Trump’s management, IMLS is working to revitalize our cultural establishments, urging much less conventional candidates to think about working with us, and to advertise civic pleasure and a deep sense of belonging amongst all People,” he mentioned, including that any establishment that “meets programmatic necessities and targets” outlined within the funding alternative “will obtain all due consideration and endure peer evaluation.”
The spokesperson didn’t say how alignment with Trump’s government orders can be weighed within the choice course of or deal with issues in regards to the administration’s intrusion into funded establishments.
Established in 1996, the institute is the one devoted supply of federal assist for libraries and one of many main federal funders of museums and archives. Its long-running grant applications promote neighborhood engagement and public entry to data, whereas bolstering establishments’ skill to take care of collections and put together for disasters. One grant, named after former first girl Laura Bush, helps recruit and practice library professionals.
Final March, Trump tried to remove the company via an government order and fired director Cyndee Landrum, a profession library skilled. Attorneys common from 21 states and the American Library Affiliation sued the Trump administration to dam it from dismantling the company; the courts have halted the efforts for now.
To go the company, the administration appointed Deputy Secretary of Labor Keith E. Sonderling, who doesn’t seem to have prior skilled expertise in museums or libraries. (An institute spokesperson didn’t touch upon issues ProPublica handed alongside about this.) In a press launch asserting his appointment as performing director, Sonderling mentioned, “We are going to revitalize IMLS and restore concentrate on patriotism, making certain we protect our nation’s core values, promote American exceptionalism and domesticate love of nation in future generations.”
Ten days later, he put almost the entire company’s 75 staff on administrative depart, fired the board and rescinded some beforehand awarded grants.
The grants have been reinstated beneath court docket order in December, and the company is now accepting functions for 13 grants whose awards vary from $5,000 to $1 million. Based on Grants.gov, the company now expects to award almost 600 grants totaling greater than $78 million.
ProPublica spoke with administrators who ran the company beneath each earlier presidential administration courting again to Barack Obama’s. Although every period introduced completely different priorities, they mentioned, these adjustments have been carried out with enter from the sphere — not by encouraging candidates to align their work with a president’s worldview. With the brand new pointers, they mentioned, the administration is signaling a choice for sure sorts of tasks and narratives.
Crosby Kemper III, a lifelong conservative Republican appointed by Trump to guide the company in 2019, stayed on into President Joe Biden’s time period. Whereas he was not a fan of the previous president’s emphasis on variety, fairness and inclusion and feels that the library and museum fields wanted a course correction from their pure lean to the left, he believes that what’s popping out of the present Trump administration just isn’t useful.
“All these Trump government orders — and I imply all of them — are simply extensions of his personal animus in direction of anyone who disagrees with him and his outsized ego,” mentioned Kemper, who known as the orders “nonsense” and the grant pointers “horrific.” “It’s clear the administration needs a whitewashed story, if you happen to’ll pardon the pun there. And that’s fallacious.”
Leaders of the American Historic Affiliation, the American Library Affiliation and the American Alliance of Museums warned that adjustments to the company’s grant language and up to date funding actions have led to uncertainty throughout the sphere.
Amongst questions raised: Would the federal government revoke grants it had already awarded, because it did final 12 months? Would accepting the cash open up establishments to broader investigations, just like the 52 universities scrutinized over their DEI practices? The institute spokesperson didn’t touch upon both of these questions. Sarah Weicksel, the American Historic Affiliation’s government director, mentioned establishments are even fearful about how they’d be perceived in the event that they took the funds. “They’re questioning, is accepting the grant an indication that they settle for the manager orders which have been laid out right here?”
Questions additionally stay about whether or not sufficient employees is left to course of the functions correctly. The company’s $112 million funds for this 12 months is roughly a 3rd of the funding it has acquired in recent times. The company didn’t reply a query about its present staffing, however in its most up-to-date Congressional Price range Justification doc, it requested assist for 13 full-time staff. Former company officers mentioned that quantity is low, however that they trusted the remaining staffers to decide on high quality tasks and, within the phrases of Kemper, “do the proper factor.”
However staffers are solely a part of the method. Usually, every grant software is reviewed by volunteer library and museum specialists. Susan Hildreth, who led the company from 2011 to 2015, questions the lack of awareness in regards to the present course of on the company’s web site. “I couldn’t discover it wherever within the documentation,” she mentioned. The institute spokesperson mentioned the grant course of stays the identical as earlier years.
Opinion polls persistently discover that libraries and museums are among the many most trusted public establishments within the nation by People throughout the political spectrum, and Urist mentioned they’re trusted due to their independence. “When the federal authorities places its thumb on that scale, it threatens the trustworthiness of those neighborhood anchors.”
Weicksel mentioned it’s vital for the general public to understand how the administration is aiming to form establishments important to the nation’s tradition and talent to grasp itself and its previous. Patty Gerstenblith, distinguished analysis professor of Legislation at DePaul College, agreed, saying that the administration’s actions increase critical First Modification issues.
“Definitely at a minimal,” Gerstenblith mentioned, “individuals ought to know that the federal government is utilizing its funding as a method of primarily coercing a distinct presentation of American historical past.”
