Every other Tuesday, the team behind Civics 101 joins NHPR’s All Things Considered host Julia Furukawa to talk about how our democratic institutions actually work.
The Trump administration ordered a sweeping review of the Smithsonian in August, in part to remove what President Trump called “improper ideology” from the institutions. The White House then unveiled a list of specific exhibits that it opposed, including the American History Museum’s “LGBTQ+ History” exhibit as well as a profile of Benjamin Franklin for focusing too much on slavery.
Civics 101 host Hannah McCarthy spoke with Julia about the Smithsonian, how it’s run and who decides what goes in a Smithsonian museum.
Transcript
What is the Smithsonian? What’s included in this institute?
So the Smithsonian has 21 museums, including galleries. There's also the National Zoo. The Smithsonian also comprises a research and education complex that, together with its museums, makes it the largest of its kind in the world. There are libraries, archives, a science education center, a learning lab. So the Smithsonian's founding mandate was to increase the diffusion of knowledge among all and they attempt to do that in many, many ways.
Wow, so lots of branches there. How is this operation run? Who’s in charge of it?
It has a Board of Regents. This board is tasked with the administration of the Smithsonian, and it's comprised of the chief justice of the United States, the vice president of the United States, three members of the Senate, three members of the House, and then nine citizens. The Board of Regents also appoints the Smithsonian secretary, currently Lonnie Bunch, who oversees the museums, the libraries, the research centers, the zoo, and all of those education centers.
Throughout history, what kind of relationship does the Smithsonian have with the federal government?
So the Smithsonian is what is called a trust instrumentality of the United States. It is an independent organization created by Congress for a specific purpose. It is not directly controlled by any branch of government. It is not a federal agency, but it does get most of its budget from the federal government, as well as a large portion from grants and donations.
There have been a number of court cases over the course of the Smithsonian's life, wherein the courts have tried to determine exactly what the Smithsonian is and how laws apply to it. But historically, the federal government has left the Smithsonian to its own independent devices.
That said, it does get most of its money from congressional appropriations. So when, for example, the Smithsonian planned an exhibit examining the necessity of dropping the atomic bomb in World War II, Congress threatened the Smithsonian's funding, and the Smithsonian canceled the exhibit. So over the course of its lifetime, the institution has faced criticism in that it prioritizes public opinion and ostensibly congressional desires, and sometimes edits American history down to its greatest hits.
How does the Smithsonian decide what they collect and what they’ll display?
The Smithsonian's current acquisitions and display process is different than it was in the past. There was a collecting bonanza in the late 19th and 20th centuries that resulted in millions of objects, some that would be clearly popular among the public, but also about 30,000 human remains specifically to prove white supremacy by looking for inferiority in nonwhite bodies. So the project of collecting and displaying toward education and truth has not always been a good faith one, though the Smithsonian has over time, really, I think, tried to strive toward that directive.
But then today, you've got a directive from President Trump to review the museum's exhibits, texts, curation, [and] planning. And we're already seeing a change in the way the Smithsonian provides an educational and cultural experience to the public. They have edited references to Trump's two impeachments. There's an artist who canceled an exhibition of her work after the National Portrait Gallery expressed concerns over a painting of a trans woman.
So the Smithsonian is currently trying to figure out how to maintain independence while navigating the Trump administration's efforts to take charge of how our nation's history is told. [The] collections and exhibitions, I think, will likely reveal to us exactly how the institution chooses to respond to this.
