White House review of Smithsonian content could reach into classrooms nationwide

High school history teacher Katharina Matro often pulls materials from the Smithsonian Institution website as she assembles her lessons. She trusts its materials and uses documents and other primary sources it curates for discussions of topics such as genocide and slavery.

As the White House presses for changes at the Smithsonian, she’s worried she may not be able to rely on it in the same way.

“We don’t want a partisan history,” said Matro, a teacher in Bethesda, Md. “We want the history that’s produced by real historians.”

Far beyond museums in Washington, President Trump’s review at the Smithsonian could influence how history is taught in classrooms around the country. The institution is a leading provider of curriculum and other educational materials, which are subject to the sweeping new assessment of all its public-facing content.

Trump is moving to bring the Smithsonian into alignment with his vision of American history. In a letter last month to the Smithsonian Institution, the White House said its review is meant to “assess tone, historical framing, and alignment with American ideals.” It’s part of Trump’s agenda to “celebrate American exceptionalism” by removing “divisive or partisan narratives,” it said.

Those opposed to the changes fear they will promote a more sanitized version of American history.

In celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary next year, the Education Department recently launched the White House’s Founders Museum in partnership with PragerU, a conservative nonprofit that produces videos on politics and history. Visitors to the museum in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, as well as the White House website, can read biographies on the signers of the Declaration of Independence and watch videos that depict them speaking.

The project mentions some signers favoring abolition and includes Phillis Wheatley, an enslaved woman who became the first published Black female poet in the U.S. But critics say it brushes over some of the nation’s darker past.

“Those are the kinds of things that teachers are really leery of because they don’t see partisanship in the sources that we’re using as being good educational practice,” said Tina Ellsworth, president of the National Council for the Social Studies.

Sam Redman, professor of history and director of the University of Massachusetts’ Public History Program, uses content from the Smithsonian Institution on campus in Amherst, Mass.

(Jessica Hill / Associated Press)

History teachers use supplemental resources over textbooks

More than 80% of history teachers report using free resources from federal museums, archives and institutions including the Smithsonian, according to an American Historical Assn. survey last year.

The federal institutions’ materials have been widely trusted partly because they are thoroughly examined by professionals, said Brendan Gillis, the historical association’s director of teaching and learning. Some teachers have out-of-date history textbooks, and online resources from institutions such as the Smithsonian can fill the gaps, he said.

“That’s been one of the most influential and profoundly important ways that the federal government has invested in social studies education over the last couple of decades,” Gillis said.

The museum organizes professional development workshops for teachers and offers classroom materials ranging from worksheets to videos.

Russell Jeung, an Asian American studies professor at San Francisco State University and co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, took part in a Smithsonian video series in 2020 meant to educate high schoolers and adults on racism and discrimination against Asians during the COVID-19 pandemic and other points in American history.

Jeung said he expects the project will be shelved by the White House review.

“I think the story will be told,” Jeung said. “But the tragedy again and the loss is that we won’t get the national recognition that we deserve.”

Michael Heiman, a longtime social studies teacher in Juneau, Alaska, said he typically had his students do a scavenger hunt of artifacts in a virtual Smithsonian tour.

He said that the exhibits always have been culturally inclusive, and if that changes, he worries it would affect students of color he’s taught, including Native American children. It could discourage them from pursuing careers in museum sciences or engaging with history at all, he said.

“We are further quieting voices that are important to our country,” Heiman said. “We are also restricting [the ability of] certain kids in those underrepresented populations to really understand more about their past.”

About a decade ago, graduate students of history professor Sam Redman at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, had the opportunity to collaborate with the Smithsonian National Museum of American History for a blog series commemorating the Americans With Disabilities Act. The exercise connected objects in the Smithsonian collection to the civil rights law. The experience for his students was “really incredible,” he said.

Each year, he’s heard students say they want to get a job in the federal government or work at the Smithsonian after graduation. But this year, Redman said, he hasn’t heard a single student express interest.

Seminera writes for the Associated Press.