President Trump has directed federal officials to install content warning labels outside the Smithsonian National Museum of American History (NMAH) after his administration accused the institution of “anti-white” practices.
Issued on Friday, July 24, the order requires the Department of the Interior (DOI) to install “temporary signage along the NPS-maintained sidewalks and walkways used by the public to access the Museum.” The signs would present the findings of the administration’s recent 162-page report condemning the NMAH for what it called “extreme political activism.” A White House spokesperson would not say when the signs would be put up, and the Smithsonian did not respond to Hyperallergic’s request for comment.
The move is the latest — and most aggressive — effort by the administration to reshape Smithsonian exhibits that address painful chapters of American history, including anti-Latino discrimination, chattel slavery, and the fight for women’s rights and gender parity. In the order, Trump pledged to “take all available steps to ensure that the issues identified in the Report are addressed,” including what amounts to a warning that federal funding could be reconsidered through reviews of “funding or contract conditions.” The Smithsonian is a public-private organization that receives more than $1 billion in federal appropriations annually.
Trump’s directive also criticized the museum for not “appropriately honoring the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence during this 250th anniversary year.” He said the administration would place “temporary exhibits or signage” presenting its preferred account of the signatories. The executive order came just days after congressional Republicans questioned NMAH director and longtime public historian Anthea Hartig over museum content that the Trump administration views as objectionable.
Among the most provocative claims in the July report was that the NMAH was promoting “citizenship for millions of illegal aliens” through an exhibition on pluralism in the United States. The report also repeatedly alleged anti-White bias at the institution. Hartig, who leads only one of the Smithsonian’s 21 museums and zoos, testified on July 21 before the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency after being accused in the report of “advancing an ideological agenda contradictory to the Museum’s founding purpose of fostering patriotism.”
In brief remarks to the subcommittee, Hartig defended her work and the NMAH’s mission to “[add] the evidence, voices and objects that earlier tellings left out, so that more Americans can see themselves in the national story.” She also repeatedly denied that the museum was partisan. During the more than two-hour hearing, she faced unusual questions and comments from Republican members, including claims that the museum sold “Latina power paraphernalia” and was “sexualized” by displaying images of drag queen RuPaul.
At one point, Colorado Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert asked Hartig what authority she had to “turn the National Museum of American History into a vehicle for progressive political activism.” As the administration and congressional Republicans pressure the NMAH to alter material the president dislikes, volunteer groups of citizen historians have been documenting exhibits and wall texts at the museum and at National Park Service sites in anticipation of Trump-ordered changes. One such group, Citizen Historians, says it has already photographed the museum’s three floors.
Yale University American history professor David Blight testified alongside Hartig, as well as right-wing Heritage Foundation fellow Mike Gonzalez and former Heritage Foundation vice president Matthew Spalding. Speaking with Florida Democrat Maxwell Alejandro Frost, the first Gen-Z member of Congress, Blight suggested Trump’s Smithsonian actions could echo those of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, who organized the 1937 Degenerate Art exhibition. When Frost asked, “Dr. Blight, if Congress or the White House starts deciding historical or political interpretation, how is that different from political censorship?” Blight replied, “It is political censorship.”
The latest Smithsonian attacks followed the Trump administration’s replacement of an exhibition on slavery in Philadelphia with language that downplayed President George Washington’s role in sustaining the institution. The DOI has not yet responded to Hyperallergic’s requests for comment. Staff Reporter Anna Lee contributed writing to this report.
