The Trump administration will start a “comprehensive internal review” of the Smithsonian Establishment, together with an examination of exhibitions, curatorial processes, instructional 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 plenty of 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 Employees 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.
Trump’s particular assistant and Senior Affiliate Employees Secretary Lindsey L. Halligan (proper, in pink garment) signed the letter to Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch. (Official White Home picture by Daniel Torok, through Flickr)
Among the many seemingly first exhibitions beneath evaluation by Trump fall beneath the establishment’s semiquincentennial programming, Our Shared Future: 250. Applications within the sequence, open at varied 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 applications embody a survey of pictures from the Nationwide Portrait Gallery’s assortment, a people pageant, and a block occasion 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 “begin implementing content corrections” and substitute 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 commitment to scholarly excellence, rigorous research, and the accurate, factual presentation of history,” a Smithsonian spokesperson mentioned in a press release 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.
The Smithsonian Nationwide Museum of American Historical past on August 13, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Picture by Alex Wroblewski/AFP through Getty Photos)
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 press release, PEN America condemned the approaching evaluation as a “betrayal” of democratic custom.
Inside 75 days, the Trump administration requested Bunch to show over an index of all assortment gadgets 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 section. 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 will probably be reviewed later, the letter mentioned.
