Nat'l. Museum of American History Dir. opening testimony on accusations of rewriting history

[00:00:00]Chairman Burrgett, Ranking Member Stansbury, and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today.

[00:00:08]I know this committee has questions about the National Museum of American History, and I welcome the chance to answer them.

[00:00:16]As an historian, I have spent my career studying, teaching, and preserving the history of the United States.

[00:00:23]My family has served this nation since the Revolutionary War, and I was raised with a deep sense of obligation to it and the democratic ideals that the country asks each generation to build and to uphold.

[00:00:39]Since 2019, I have been honored to serve as the Elizabeth McMillan Director of your National Museum of American History, home of the Star-Spangled Banner.

[00:00:50]It is a true honor to serve alongside my devoted fellow public servants who staff the museum, and I am immensely proud of our work.

[00:01:00]Congress created this Smithsonian Institution in 1846 with an aspirational mission of diffusion and knowledge.

[00:01:08]Can you imagine the increase in diffusion of knowledge? It is an independent trust instrumentality outside the executive branch of government and is governed by a Board of Regents that includes all three branches of government and nine citizen Regents appointed by a joint resolution of Congress.

[00:01:27]The Smithsonian takes the concerns raised in the White House Domestic Policy Council's report seriously.

[00:01:33]And as we continue to fact-check the report, we unwaveringly attest that it does not fairly or accurately characterize the full body of work at the museum.

[00:01:45]There is always room for improvement, but I also know the beauty and the inspiration and the expertise that lies in our collections, our exhibits, and our programming.

[00:01:58]When a family walks through the doors of the museum free of charge, as 2 million people did last year, they find the desk on which Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, Horatio Greenough's magnificent statue of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln's top hat from the night he was assassinated, the Greensboro lunch counter, the gowns of the first ladies, and the stories of Americans in uniform.

[00:02:25]They find the inventions that changed the world and the ordinary Americans who built it.

[00:02:32]I have watched 10-year-olds with their families stand in front of the Star-Spangled Banner with their hands over their hearts.

[00:02:38]No one told them to.

[00:02:40]That is the National Museum of American History at its most powerful.

[00:02:46]Patriotism, not instructed but inspired.

[00:02:51]Our work is governed by the Smithsonian standards of scholarship, accuracy, independence, and non-partisanship.

[00:02:59]The museum does not take sides in America's political debates. We preserve and document the evidence of American life in all of its breadth, so that the public can encounter the past and draw their own conclusions.

[00:03:15]We are also always learning.

[00:03:18]When visitors, scholars, members of Congress, veterans, and teachers, volunteers tell us we've gotten something wrong or only half right, we take it seriously.

[00:03:28]And we make the changes when the evidence supports them.

[00:03:32]And when historians talk about reframing a traditional narrative, we don't mean erasing it.

[00:03:39]We mean adding the evidence, the voices, the objects that earlier tellings left out, so that more Americans can see themselves reflected in the national story.

[00:03:51]We honor the Declaration, the Revolution, the Constitution, our national symbols, and we tell the truth about the times that the country fell short of its own founding ideals.

[00:04:03]Telling our story fully is a form of respect for the American people and a commitment to constantly being in pursuit of a more perfect union.

[00:04:14]I hope that you will judge this museum the way [clears throat] that the American people do, by what's on its walls and what's in its care.

[00:04:22]Please accept our sincere invitation.

[00:04:25]Walk the building with me. Stand in awe in front of the Star-Spangled Banner.

[00:04:31]I believe what you will find, mesdames and sirs, is not an institution that has forgotten its country, but one that loves it enough to tell the full sweep of history, our triumphs and our struggles.

[00:04:46]I love the United States of America.

[00:04:48]I consider it the privilege of my career to help preserve its treasures and serve the American people. I'm grateful for the chance to answer your questions today. Thank you.