All posts tagged: Smithsonian Insitution

Volunteer Group Archives Smithsonian Wall Text

Volunteer Group Archives Smithsonian Wall Text

A group of historians and volunteers has been documenting wall labels across the Smithsonian Institution as the Trump administration pushes for changes to how American history is presented in federal museums, according to The Washington Post. The effort, organized under the name Citizen Historians for the Smithsonian, began after administration officials called for reviews of content at several museums and urged the removal of what they described as “divisive narratives.” The Smithsonian, which comprises 21 museums and the National Zoo, has increasingly become a focal point in debates over historical interpretation. Related Articles The group was co-founded by James Millward, a Georgetown University historian, and Chandra Manning, a US history professor at Georgetown. Over seven weeks in late summer and early fall, they recruited hundreds of volunteers to photograph and archive publicly accessible wall text throughout the Smithsonian system, compiling more than 50,000 images, the Post reported. The documentation effort drew attention after the National Portrait Gallery replaced wall text accompanying President Donald Trump’s portrait. According to the Post, the previous label stated that Trump …

Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art Acquires Images by Warhol Assistant

Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art Acquires Images by Warhol Assistant

The Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art has added more than 400 rarely seen images of famous figures who passed through Andy Warhol’s Factory, from David Hockney and Debbie Harry, to Georgia O’Keeffe and Paloma Picasso. According to the institution, the images were captured by the artist Ronald “Ronnie” Cutrone as stereoscopic slides, pairing two photographs to create the illusion of three-dimensional depth. Cutrone, a performer (with the Velvet Underground, notably), painter, and nightclub impresario, worked as Warhol’s studio assistant from 1972 to 1982, documenting during that decade the creative constellation that comprised his orbit. He worked closely with Warhol throughout his career—reportedly calling the Pop artist a “second father” following his death—and went on to exhibit his own paintings and illustrations of canonical cartoon imagery alongside downtown titans such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. Building on Pop Art’s appropriative ethos, Cutrone’s work was dubbed “Post-Pop.” A boon for the Smithsonian, Cutrone’s images feature Al Green, Bruce Nauman, Mick Jagger, and Dennis Hopper. Most striking is O’Keeffe gazing at her portrait by Warhol—the sort of creative crossover that, for a moment, makes myths feel human. Image Credit: …

Smithsonian Hands Over Internal Materials to White House

Smithsonian Hands Over Internal Materials to White House

The Smithsonian Institution has turned over internal materials related to its programming and operations amid White House pressure for a review, according to private emails from Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch II obtained by The New York Times. After retaking office in January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at purging what he described as “anti-American ideology” from the Smithsonian Institution, the consortium of Washington, D.C., museums and archives that includes the National Museum of American History, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Related Articles The Trump administration demanded by Tuesday full compliance with an August directive requiring the Smithsonian to hand over internal materials for review or risk losing federal funding, which makes up the vast majority of its budget. In response, Bunch publicly reiterated the institution’s nonpartisanship and independence, saying the Smithsonian would conduct its own review and brief the administration on its findings. The revelation that the Smithsonian would transfer materials on a rolling basis—including “digital …

Smithsonian Told Staffer to Remove ‘Unjust’ From Show on Internment

Smithsonian Told Staffer to Remove ‘Unjust’ From Show on Internment

2025 was quite a year for the Smithsonian Institution, which found itself in the crosshairs of the second Trump administration early and often. Last year began with Trump calling for a purge of “anti-American ideology” from the institution’s 19 museums. 2026 appears to have brought more of the same. On Thursday, the New York Times reported that the Trump Administration has redoubled its efforts to bring the Smithsonian to heel and has put forward a deadline of next Tuesday for it to comply with a comprehensive review of its content and plans. That is with an eye toward bringing it inline with Trump’s executive order issued last March, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” Related Articles While it seems that, at least on the surface, the Smithsonian’s strategy of late has been to delay, the Guardian‘s chief culture writer Charlotte Higgins reported, also on Thursday, that internally many Smithsonian bureaucrats are already “acquiescing in advance”—self-censorship, in other words. One Smithsonian staffer described to Higgins how a proposed label for an exhibition on the internment of …

In 2025, Censorship and Firings Defined a Fractured Art World

In 2025, Censorship and Firings Defined a Fractured Art World

In its 2024 Year-in-Review, ARTnews noted a widening schism in the art world, defined by a moral fault: the continued support of Israel amid the destruction of Gaza. A year later—and more than three years into what a UN commission of inquiry determined this fall to be a genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip—artists, critics, museums, gallerists, and audiences remain divided over what has become the ethical litmus test of our lifetimes. This year, that divide has shaped not just discourse but practice, determining exhibits, funding, and, in turn, what stories cultural institutions choose to tell. Related Articles This rolling censorship crisis was further amplified in 2025 by Donald Trump’s return to the White House. His tenure so far appears like a successful second act of the marquee mission of his first presidency: The ideological overhaul of the United States’ arts and cultural landscape. Leveraging a brazen expansion of presidential power, Trump and his team have targeted museum leaders and aesthetic movements while undermining the federal government’s grant-making capabilities—leaving the local organizations that form …