Smithsonian defends exhibits amid White House criticism

[00:00:00]A top Smithsonian official has testified on Capitol Hill amid a barrage of criticism from the White House. Anthea Hartig is the director of the National Museum of American History and she's disputing a Trump administration report that has accused the institution of {quote} ideological activism and putting too much focus on the country's problems.

[00:00:20]>> Our work is governed by the Smithsonian's standards of scholarship, accuracy, independence, and non-partisanship.

[00:00:27]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 counter the past and draw their own conclusions.

[00:00:43]>> Well, joining me now is Sarah Weicksel who has curated American history exhibits at the Smithsonian and is now the director of the American Historical Association. Sarah, thank you so much for being here. I first I would just love to hear your response to that White House report. I mean, it accuses curators like you of being people who don't want you to love our country. That is the quote. How do you respond to that?

[00:01:06]>> The One of the things that's really striking about the Domestic Policy Council's report is that it advocates for an unchanging view of American history that is celebratory and triumphal.

[00:01:18]But history is not a set of static facts or known certainties. History is an evidence-based interpretive discipline and it Our interpretation constantly evolves as historians analyze evidence in light of an ever-expanding body of scholarship. That helps to deepen and to enrich our historical understanding and requires recognition that our knowledge of the past evolves.

[00:01:44]So, the advancement of historical understanding really relies upon historians and other museum professionals like those who work at the National Museum of American History to have the ability to practice their craft with integrity, to undertake vigorous evidence-based research and then to interpret that evidence for the public according to well-established professional historical and museum practices.

[00:02:07]>> How I guess my question is about the process of making these selections. I mean, how much debate is there in terms of the integrity of these different exhibits that you're curating or are there discussions of important lessons that you need to take?

[00:02:24]>> There are so many discussions that go into an an exhibition. So many decisions that need to be made that many folks in the public would be surprised to hear about. Some of those and something we saw in the hearing today involve the placement of objects.

[00:02:43]Where can they best fit within an exhibit, but also where can they best fit within the museum building? One of the things we heard at the hearing today was criticism that the museum does not have, for instance, George Washington's uniform prominently displayed as you walk into the museum. I can tell you that the museum by placing that uniform in the price of freedom exhibit in a darker area is actually doing the good work of conserving that object for future generations of Americans.

[00:03:18]So some of the things that go into it include, you know, what objects can we use? What what stories do those objects tell best? What kind of uh environmental conditions within the building are going to allow this object to stay out for the longest period of time.

[00:03:38]They're constantly balancing both the historical narrative and the protection of the objects and conservation of them for our future generations.

[00:03:48]>> The Smithsonian gets more than a billion dollars in federal funding every year.

[00:03:52]Does the Smithsonian have any kind of obligation to the people who are approving that money to maybe take in their feedback or present a version of or at least I can not even a version but be selective of the facts presented in the way that those people approving the money choose or do you want to be entirely objective? Is that even possible?

[00:04:15]>> The National Museum of American History [clears throat] and the Smithsonian Institution at large belongs to all of us. All of us as Americans and we all deserve to be able to visit the museum and to see exhibitions in which we see ourselves, our families, our communities and our nation represented and that's something that the museum strives to do through a wide range of exhibitions that range from an exhibit on America's wars to exhibits on um transportation and American inventions.

[00:04:50]There are so many areas of the museum where people can connect with the past, be inspired and walk away wanting to learn more.

[00:04:58]>> American Historical Association Director Sarah Wexcil. Sarah, thank you very much for your time.

[00:05:02]>> Always.