America’s top archivist is being accused of whitewashing and deemphasizing negative parts of U.S. history in a popular, national museum.
U.S. archivist Colleen Shogan, the Biden appointee in charge of the nation’s most important documents, and her top advisors at the National Archives and Records Administration are facing heat over changes being made at its museum on the National Mall.
Shogan has reportedly ordered the removal of references to Martin Luther King Jr., the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, the government’s displacement of Indigenous tribes, union organizers, birth control, and more, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Visitors of the National Archives museum shouldn’t “feel confronted,” the archivist said, but rather “welcomed.”
The specific changes to new exhibits include the replacement of a photo of King with one of Richard Nixon meeting Elvis Presley.
A “proposed exhibit exploring changes to the Constitution since 1787,” including “amendments abolishing slavery and expanding the right to vote,” was reduced in size, and employees were told that “focusing on the amendments portrayed the Founding Fathers in a negative light.”
Shogan “told employees to remove Dorothea Lange’s photos of Japanese-American incarceration camps from a planned exhibit because the images were too negative and controversial, according to documents and current and former employees” and her aides “also asked staff to eliminate references about the wartime incarceration from some educational material.”
Shogan’s aides “also ordered the removal of labor-union pioneer Dolores Huerta and Minnie Spotted-Wolf, the first Native American woman to join the Marine Corps, from the photo booth, according to current and former employees and agency documents.”
In an exhibit of “patents that changed the world,” the birth control pill was replaced with the bump stock.
Shogan and her advisors have reportedly raised concerns that upcoming exhibits and educational displays might anger Republican lawmakers who control the agency's budget or a potential Donald Trump administration.
In 2022, Shogan was tapped as America's top archivist days before federal agents searched Trump's Marago resort after the agency discovered the former president had taken home classified records. Republicans accused the agency of targeting Trump and questioned Shogan about alleged partisan leaning during her confirmation hearing.
The changes to planned exhibits are part of a roughly $40 million makeover of the National Archives Museum, which boasts more than 1 million visitors a year.
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