National Archivist Accused of Censoring US Museum Exhibits, Raises Fascism Concerns

A recent Wall Street Journal report has sparked fierce backlash from historians and critics after revealing that U.S. Archivist Colleen Shogan and her team at the National Archives and Records Administration, which manages a renowned museum on the National Mall, have been downplaying negative aspects of U.S. history.

Stephen Miles, president of Win Without War, expressed his dismay on Thursday, stating, “It’s utterly disgraceful for the National Archives to engage in preemptive self-censorship, omitting crucial parts of a truthful account of American history just to safeguard its funding. This is a blatant betrayal of their duty.”

This behavior by Shogan, who was nominated by Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden, and her advisors has been denounced as “disgraceful” and “completely unacceptable.”

Shogan’s Senate confirmation hearing took place in September 2022, roughly six weeks after the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago, the Florida home of former President Donald Trump, who is now a Republican nominee facing Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming November 5 election. The legal proceedings against Trump started when the National Archives discovered he had taken several boxes of materials.

Shogan is currently overseeing a $40 million renovation of the National Archives Museum—which houses significant documents like the Bill of Rights, Constitution, and Declaration of Independence—and the neighboring Discovery Center. Concerns about various modifications to these facilities have been voiced by both current and former employees during interviews with the Journal, which also examined internal documents and notes.

A senior official advised that “visitors should not feel confronted but welcomed,” as reported by the newspaper. Furthermore, Shogan and her senior advisors have expressed worries that upcoming exhibits and educational displays set to launch next year may provoke Republican lawmakers—who have partial control over the agency’s budget—or a possible Trump administration.

Mary Todd, reacting on social media on Thursday, said, “As a historian, this shocks me. History is supposed to challenge you.”

As the Journal documented:

Shogan’s senior aides decided to exclude a proposed image of Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. from a new “Step Into History” photo booth in the Discovery Center. The booth will allow visitors to superimpose themselves next to historical figures. The aides also removed images of labor union leader Dolores Huerta and Minnie Spotted-Wolf, the first Native American woman in the Marine Corps, based on reports from current and former employees and agency documents.

Instead, the aides opted for images of former President Richard Nixon with Elvis Presley and former President Ronald Reagan with baseball star Cal Ripken Jr.

Following a review of an exhibit on the nation’s Westward expansion, Shogan asked a staff member, “Why is it so focused on Indians?” She also directed the removal of several treaties signed by Native American tribes from the exhibit, according to employees and documents.

“The plans for an exhibit on Japanese-American internment camps during World War II were altered when Shogan and her advisors decided to remove Dorothea Lange’s photographs of the camps, deeming them too negative and controversial,” detailed the Journal. Moreover, in an exhibit about patents, the invention of the contraceptive pill was replaced with television, although one of Shogan’s aides had suggested the bump stock, a gun accessory.

Shogan was also criticized for granting an internship to the niece of Republican Texas Congressman Pete Sessions and for inviting former First Lady Melania Trump to a naturalization ceremony. The National Archives refrained from making Shogan available for an interview and stated, “Leading a nonpartisan agency in an era of political polarization is challenging.”

Nathan J. Robinson of Current Affairs commented on Thursday that “the National Archives Museum seems to be morphing into a showcase of (alleged) American greatness rather than providing a full and accurate portrayal of our history. It’s surprising that this is happening under a Biden appointee, but it’s evident that Shogan is deeply concerned about accusations of partisanship.”

“Attempting to satisfy the right is futile, as they will never acknowledge, ‘Oh, actually, the Biden-appointed archivist is doing a great job and is quite impartial,'” Robinson noted. “They view any deviation from their narrative as harmful leftism, so Trump would probably still prefer to install a staunch MAGA archivist who would create exhibits glorifying the major contributions of real estate developers to American history and erect a monument to Ronald Reagan.”

“An archivist should be dedicated to conveying an accurate narrative, even if it discomforts some people who’d prefer to ignore certain truths about the nation’s history,” he said. “Librarians, archivists, curators, and historians must rigorously defend the truth and ensure it isn’t replaced with myth. The situation at the National Archives demonstrates how unreliable liberals can be in maintaining their commitment to this mission under conservative pressure.”

Several professionals in these fields have been vocal in their criticism of Shogan this week, with some even calling for her resignation or dismissal. David Neiwert, author of The Age of Insurrection: The Radical Right’s Assault on American Democracy, stated, “This individual needs to be fired immediately, and her advisors completely replaced. She’s distorting American history.”

Harvey G. Cohen, a historian who has spent extensive time at the National Archives, remarked, “I say, not lightly, this U.S. archivist should be fired. The National Archives must focus on preserving and presenting the truth—nothing less. This is what historian Timothy D. Snyder refers to as ‘anticipatory obedience.'”

Others echoed Snyder’s thoughts. Abdelilah Skhir from the ACLU of Florida shared a screenshot from Snyder’s book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century on social media.

Brandon Friedman, a former official in the Obama administration, described the actions at the agency as “a classic case of pre-emptive obedience,” and Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch called it “yet another alarming instance of pre-emptively obeying fascism.”

Some readers of the report used it to raise concerns about Trump and his influence over the Republican Party ahead of next week’s elections, where U.S. voters will decide the next president and the party that will control Congress.

“The Trump/GOP fixation on sanitizing U.S. history is now extending to intimidating public institutions like the National Archives,” Charles Idelson from National Nurses United commented. “This is another hallmark of authoritarian or fascist governance.”

Journalist Mehdi Hasan remarked on the reporting, “This is insanity,” and added, “This is what real cancel culture and real snowflakes look like. It’s all *Republican*.”

Branko Marcetic of Jacobin noted that “while initially it may seem absurd, this represents a grim preview of the much more extensive self-censorship and distortion of reality that frightened agencies, companies, and other private entities will likely engage in if Trump is re-elected.”

“If this is how a single career civil servant reacts out of fear at just the *possibility* of a Trump presidency,” Marcetic warned, “imagine what might occur if and when he actually returns to power.”