The White House will carry out a comprehensive review of the Smithsonian institution’s exhibitions and materials – responsible for some of the main public museums of the United States – to ensure, according to the government, the preservation of “lasting values of American history”.
The measure meets the decree signed by President Donald Trump that seeks to “restore the truth and sanity” in US museums. It states that exhibitions made in museums that receive federal funding reflect unifying and accurate historical narratives for Americans, without ideological or divisive biases.
According to information conveyed on Tuesday (12) by the US press, the request for review of the White House was formalized in a letter sent to the secretary of the institution Smithsonian, Lonnie Bunch III, asking eight museums of Washington, DC – among them the National Museum of American History, the National Museum of Natural History and the National Portrait Gallery – participate in the first phase of the review. Other units will be included in the next step.
According to the document, each museum should present in 30 days a complete inventory of current and future exhibitions, programming plans for the 250th anniversary of the US, budgets and internal guidelines. There will be face -to -face visits and interviews with curators, and within 120 days, museums should start “content corrections when necessary”, replacing ideologically biased language with “historically accurate and constructive” descriptions.
Smithsonian’s management said it will analyze the letter and that it will maintain its commitment to “academic excellence, rigorous research and factual presentation of history”, working constructively with the White House, Congress and the Council of Regents.
The Smithsonian network is the largest museum complex in the world, with 21 institutions and the national zoo, and receives about 17 million visitors per year, with free admission to most of its units.
