The Smithsonian has resisted Trump’s demands for over a year. Now the administration is reportedly planning to call out its leadership with signs

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Senator Jeff Merkley in a September 3 letter that the National Park Service plans to place about a dozen temporary signs outside the National Museum of American History. The letter, obtained by reporter Kelsey Ables of The Atlantic, put the estimated cost at $84,000. 

Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, and Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska sought the information after President Donald Trump signed a July executive order calling for the signs. People inside the Park Service know how the signs would be built, a person familiar with the preparations said. 

That person said the wording and the text’s authors are still unknown to agency staff working on the project. The source asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Burgum wrote that the signs have not been finalized.

Letter from Burgum quotes museum officials and a White House museum report

The letter listed items it said “visitors should know” before walking inside. Burgum quoted National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig and criticized outgoing Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch. The letter also singled out exhibitions and materials that have addressed undocumented immigrants and transgender Americans.

“The informational signage therefore will provide visitors with important context about the exhibits they are about to encounter and the personal viewpoints that the curators of the exhibits are seeking to advance,” the letter said. 

Burgum pointed to a 162-page White House report on the museum and wrote that the institution is pushing “ideologies that distract from a coherent and accurate presentation of America’s story.” He also wrote, “This may be the first instance in which executive branch intervention of this nature has become Necessary.”

The Smithsonian receives some federal funding, keeps its own governing board, and has long operated with independence from the executive branch. This tension has escalated as the administration has threatened to cut federal support over alleged ideological activism.  

Criticism from the Trump administration has continued since March 2025. Trump used social media last Friday to demand curatorial changes, including the removal of an abstract sculpture and the installation of a 30-foot-tall George Washington statue.

Hartig has cited figures already on view inside the museum: 368 objects and 340 labels on the founding era, along with 54 mentions of George Washington. “Our work is governed by the Smithsonian’s standards of scholarship, accuracy, independence, and nonpartisanship,” Hartig told two House committees this summer. 

“The museum does not take sides in America’s political debates. We preserve and document the evidence of American life in all its breadth, so that the public can encounter the past and draw their own conclusions.”

The same executive order told the Park Service to steer visitors toward White House-approved history materials and to add a temporary exhibit on the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Burgum’s letter indicated the outdoor signs would criticize Smithsonian leaders and selected materials before guests reach the entrance.

The letter said a commitment to public transparency means visitors should be informed about “Director Hartig’s and other Smithsonian leaders’ history of racial focus.” It quoted Hartig acknowledging white privilege during a November 2020 lecture at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement. 

The letter also said visitors should be informed about “Secretary Lonnie Bunch’s history of invidious discrimination and anti-white animus,” quoting a 2000 essay in which Bunch discussed racial discrimination in the museum field.

Burgum’s letter listed a handful of exhibits that appeared in the White House report, including three that addressed transgender themes. It also mentioned teaching resources that explain why some educators use the phrase undocumented immigrant rather than illegal alien.

A PragerU spokesperson said the organization is not working on the Smithsonian signs. A Hillsdale College spokesperson said the college is not “institutionally” involved. 

Mike Gonzalez, a Heritage Foundation senior fellow who testified about the Smithsonian at summer hearings, declined to discuss any involvement and said talks with government officials stay private. Gonzalez said he thinks the signs are clever and that “at best, it’s a medium-term solution or a short-term solution.”

Staff at the National Museum of American History recently sat with 9/11 objects and spoke with visitors in a small room. Some guests left in tears, staff said. The encounter used no wall labels and no glass cases.