The Trump administration will start a “complete inside evaluation” of the Smithsonian Establishment, together with an examination of exhibitions, curatorial processes, academic supplies, and programming associated to the 250th anniversary of america’ founding.
In a letter addressed to Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch yesterday, August 12, White Home officers requested the establishment to show over various supplies, together with plans for America 250 programming, inside 30 days.
“This initiative goals to make sure alignment with the President’s directive to have a good time American exceptionalism, take away divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural establishments,” reads the letter signed by Particular Assistant to the President and Senior Affiliate Workers Secretary Lindsey L. Halligan, Assistant to the President and Director of the Home Coverage Council Vince Haley, and Assistant to the President and Director of the Workplace of Administration and Price range Russell Vought.
Following months of scrutiny of the Smithsonian as a part of Trump’s promise to rid museums of “divisive narratives,” the missive marks the primary public define of an official evaluation of the establishment. Inside the first month, the letter states, Trump officers will conduct on-site visits to “doc themes, customer expertise, and visible messaging” in eight Smithsonian museums to encourage “uplifting and inclusive” portrayals of America’s historical past.
Among the many doubtless first exhibitions underneath evaluation by Trump fall underneath the establishment’s semiquincentennial programming, Our Shared Future: 250. Packages within the collection, open at numerous occasions all through 2025 and 2026, and embody a 250-object exhibition on the Declaration of Independence, In Pursuit of Life, Liberty & Happiness on the Nationwide Museum of American Historical past. Different packages embody a survey of images from the Nationwide Portrait Gallery’s assortment, a folks pageant, and a block celebration on the Nationwide Museum of African American Historical past and Tradition.
Inside 4 months of the letter, the Trump administration mentioned the Smithsonian ought to “start implementing content material corrections” and change public-facing “divisive” language with “unifying” descriptions. Finally, the administration seeks to focus the museums on “American exceptionalism.”
“The Smithsonian’s work is grounded in a deep dedication to scholarly excellence, rigorous analysis, and the correct, factual presentation of historical past,” a Smithsonian spokesperson mentioned in an announcement to Hyperallergic. “We’re reviewing the letter with this dedication in thoughts and can proceed to collaborate constructively with the White Home, Congress, and our governing Board of Regents.”
The spokesperson didn’t say whether or not the establishment would settle for content material revisions.
Congressional Democrats, together with Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, have raised issues within the previous months about Trump’s political ambitions for the Smithsonian and known as for an investigation into the establishment’s integrity. In a assertion, PEN America condemned the upcoming evaluation as a “betrayal” of democratic custom.
Inside 75 days, the Trump administration requested Bunch to show over an index of all assortment objects throughout the Smithsonian, together with on-line exhibition descriptions, the names of artists who’ve obtained Smithsonian grants, and customer expertise surveys.
The Nationwide Portrait Gallery, the Nationwide Museum of the American Indian, the Nationwide Museum of African American Historical past and Tradition, and the Nationwide Museum of American Historical past are among the many first museums to be scrutinized within the administration’s preliminary part. In Might, long-time chief of the Nationwide Portrait Gallery Kim Sajet resigned after Trump accused her of being extremely partisan. This week, the Smithsonian confronted backlash after eradicating and rewriting descriptions of Trump’s double impeachment. Extra museums can be reviewed later, the letter mentioned.
