The Trump administration will start a “comprehensive internal review” of the Smithsonian Establishment, together with an examination of exhibitions, curatorial processes, academic supplies, and programming associated to the 250th anniversary of the US’ founding.
In a letter addressed to Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch yesterday, August 12, White Home officers requested the establishment to show over numerous supplies, together with plans for America 250 programming, inside 30 days.
“This initiative aims to ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions,” 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 Funds Russell Vought.
Among the many seemingly first exhibitions below evaluation by Trump fall below the establishment’s semiquincentennial programming, Our Shared Future: 250. Applications within the sequence, open at varied instances 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 pictures from the Nationwide Portrait Gallery’s assortment, a folks competition, and a block get together on the Nationwide Museum of African American Historical past and Tradition.
The Smithsonian Nationwide Museum of American Historical past on August 13, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Picture by Alex Wroblewski/AFP by way of Getty Photos)
Inside 4 months of the letter, the Trump administration stated the Smithsonian ought to “begin implementing content corrections” and substitute public-facing “divisive” language with “unifying” descriptions. In the end, the administration seeks to focus the museums on “American exceptionalism.”
“The Smithsonian’s work is grounded in a deep commitment to scholarly excellence, rigorous research, and the accurate, factual presentation of history,” a Smithsonian spokesperson stated in an announcement to Hyperallergic. “We are reviewing the letter with this commitment in mind and will continue to collaborate constructively with the White House, 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 considerations within the previous months about Trump’s political ambitions for the Smithsonian and referred to as for an investigation into the establishment’s integrity. In an announcement, 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 Could, 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 shall be reviewed later, the letter stated.
