Smithsonian

A famous Civil War-era photo of an escaped slave who had been savagely whipped. Displays detailing how more than 120,000 U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry were forcibly imprisoned during WWII. Signs describing the effects of climate change on the coast of Maine.

In recent months, a small army of historians, librarians, scientists and other volunteers has fanned out across America’s national parks and museums to photograph and painstakingly archive cultural and intellectual treasures they fear are under threat from President Trump’s war against “woke.”

These volunteers are creating a “citizen’s record” of what exists now in case the administration carries out Trump’s orders to scrub public signs and displays of language he and his allies deem too negative about America’s past.

More than 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were forcibly relocated and incarcerated in camps during World War II, including these Japanese Americans seen at Manzanar in the Owens Valley in 1942.

(LA Library)

“My deepest, darkest fear,” said Georgetown University history professor Chandra Manning, who helped organize an effort dubbed Citizen Historians for the Smithsonian, is that the administration plans to “rewrite and falsify who counts as an American.”

In March, Trump issued an executive order entitled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” arguing that, over the past decade, signs and displays at museums and parks across the country have been distorted by a “widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history,” replacing facts with liberal ideology.

“Under this historical revision,” he wrote, “our Nation’s unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.”

He ordered the National Parks Service and The Smithsonian to scrub their displays of content that “inappropriately disparages Americans” living or dead, and replace it with language that celebrates the nation’s greatness.

The Collins Bible — a detailed family history recorded by Richard Collins, a formerly enslaved man — is seen at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

(Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)

That’s when Manning’s colleague at Georgetown University, James Millward, who specializes in Chinese history, told her, “this seems really eerie,” Manning recalled. It reminded him of the Chinese Communist Party’s dictates to “tell China’s story well,” which he said was code for censorship and falsification.

So the professors reached out to friends and discovered that there were like-minded folks across the country working like “monks” in the Middle Ages, who painstakingly copied ancient texts, to photograph and preserve what they regarded as national treasures.

“There’s a human tradition of doing exactly this,” Manning said. “It feels gratifying to be a part of that tradition, it makes me feel less isolated and less alone.”

Jenny McBurney, a government documents librarian at the University of Minnesota, said she found Trump’s language “quite dystopian.” That’s why she helped organize an effort called Save Our Signs, which aims to photograph and preserve all of the displays at national parks and monuments.

The sprawling network includes Manzanar National Historic Site, where Japanese American civilians were imprisoned during the Second World War; Fort Sumter National Monument, where Confederates fired the first shots of the Civil War; Ford’s Theater National Historic Site in Washington, D.C., where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated; and the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Park.

It would be difficult to tell those stories without disparaging at least some dead Americans — such as the assassins John Wilkes Booth and James Earl Ray — or violating Trump’s order to focus on America’s “unmatched record of advancing liberty, prosperity and human flourishing.”

At Acadia National Park in Maine, where the rising sun first hits the U.S. coast for much of the year, signs describing the effect of climate change on rising seas, storm surge and intense rain have already been removed.

McBurney doesn’t want volunteers to try to anticipate the federal government’s next moves and focus only on displays they think might be changed, she wants to preserve everything, “good, bad, negative or whatever,” she said in a recent interview. “As a librarian, I like complete sets of things.”

And if there were a complete archive of every sign in the national park system in private hands — out of the reach of the current administration — there would always be a “before” picture to look back at and see what had changed.

“We don’t want this information to just disappear in the dark,” McBurney said.

Another group, the Data Rescue Project, is hard at work filling private servers with at-risk databases, including health data from the Centers for Disease Control, climate data from the Environmental Protection Agency and the contents of government websites, many of which have been subject to the same kind of ideological scrubbing threatened at parks and museums.

Both efforts were “a real inspiration,” Manning said, as she and Millward pondered what they could do to contribute to the cause.

Then, in August, apparently frustrated by the lack of swift compliance with its directives, the Trump administration sent a formal letter to Lonnie G. Bunch III, the first Black Secretary of the Smithsonian, setting a 120-day limit to “begin implementing content corrections.”

Days later, President Trump took to Truth Social, the media platform he owns, to state his case less formally.

“The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL,” he wrote, “everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been.”

Even though the Smithsonian celebrates American astronauts, military heroes and sports legends, Trump complained that the museums offered nothing about the “success” and “brightness” of America, concluding with, “We have the “HOTTEST” Country in the World, and we want people to talk about it.”

People visit the Smithsonian Museum of American History on the National Mall in Washington.

(Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press)

Immediately, Manning and Millward knew where they would focus.

They sent emails to people they knew, and reached out to neighborhood listservs, asking if anyone wanted to help document the displays at the 21 museums that make up the Smithsonian Institution — including the American History Museum and the Natural History Museum — the National Zoo and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Within about two weeks, they had 600 volunteers. Before long, the group had grown to over 1,600, Manning said, more people than they could assign galleries and exhibitions to.

“A lot of people feel upset and kind of paralyzed by these repeated assaults on our shared resources and our shared institutions,” Manning said, “and they’re really not sure what to do about it.”

With the help of all the volunteers, and a grad student, Jessica Dickenson Goodman, who had the computer skills to help archive their submissions, the Citizen Historians project now has an archive of over 50,000 photos and videos covering all of the sites. They finished the work Oct. 12, which was when the museums closed because of the government shutdown.

After several media outlets reported on the order to remove the photo of the whipped slave from the Fort Pulaski National Monument in Georgia — citing internal emails and people familiar with deliberations who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly — administration officials described the reports as “misinformation” but declined to specify which part was incorrect.

A National Parks Service spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

But the possibility that the administration is considering removing the Scourged Back photo is precisely what has prompted Manning, and so many others, to dedicate their time to preserving the historical record.

“I think we need the story that wrong sometimes exists and it is possible to do something about it,” Manning said.

The man in the photo escaped, joined the Union army, and became part of the fight to abolish slavery in the United States. If a powerful image like that disappears from public display, “we rob ourselves of the reminder that it’s possible to do something about the things that are wrong.”

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 (UPI) — When Kathryn Jones began to visit Washington’s museums in January, she didn’t plan to make it her full-time pursuit. But after 112 exhibits and hundreds of hours spent inside the Smithsonian’s galleries, she discovered the miracle of the exhibits’ free access.

Somewhere between the Smithsonian American History Museum’s “America on the Move” display and the Postal Museum’s overlooked treasures, Jones found herself on a journey to read every sign and description at every museum as she took in the exhibits.

Jones’ quest reshaped her understanding of curiosity and the quiet power of public learning. “I think the more that we know, the more stories we hear, the better we can empathize with other people and problem-solve ourselves,” she said.

Now, as the doors to the Smithsonian museums remain closed amid the government shutdown, Jones and others like her are left waiting outside, reminded of what the city, and the nation, loses when history is temporarily out of reach.

Jones, a 33-year-old marketing and project management professional, started at Washington’s museums in January as a personal challenge during a career break, but that quickly turned into an ambitious exploration of the Smithsonian Institution.

“I had taken the time off just to kind of figure out what brought me joy, and I really need structure to function,” said Jones, who once served in the Peace Corps in Ukraine.

The Smithsonian is the world’s largest museum complex, encompassing 21 museums, galleries, gardens and the National Zoo. With all Smithsonian museums free in the District of Columbia — and clustered within a short walk of each other along or near the National Mall — they offer the public access to an extraordinary range of art, science and history.

“I don’t know of anywhere else in the world that there is that large of a concentration of museums that are free,” Jones said.

Since she began her journey, Jones has explored 112 exhibits — individual displays within museums that organize artifacts, stories and multimedia around a shared theme. The longest for Jones, at nearly three hours, was the “America on the Move” exhibit at the National Museum of American History.

“The more that I visit museums, the more I realize just how everything is connected,” Jones said, noting how a single object might weave through several branches of history.

For example, she told UPI the story of the Hope Diamond. It was donated by Harry Winston, the “King of Diamonds,” in 1958 to display at the Natural History Museum with French Crown Jewels. The diamond’s original mailing package is preserved across town at the Postal Museum, which still serves as a working post office.

She pointed out that the Southern Railway No. 1401 steam locomotive at the American History Museum was built directly into the museum and still rests on its tracks due to its large size. It played a ceremonial role in transporting President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s funeral train in 1945.

At the Postal Museum, she was struck by letters and a mailbox preserved from the 2001 anthrax attacks. The bacterium was sent to media figures in Washington, New York, Florida and elsewhere, and five people died.

In the historic building that houses both the American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, she discovered that the top floor once displayed patent models when the space served as the U.S. Patent Office.

Jones also said she loved the hidden connections within the Smithsonian. For example, the Asian Art and African Art museums are linked by underground tunnels, where a sprawling mural leads visitors through time.

The “very bottom level is a trick of the eye mural that takes visitors from ancient times to the first national museum, which is now the arts and industry building,” Jones explained.

For Jones, these connections reveal how different disciplines and stories echo across time.

To many visitors, the Smithsonian’s free admission policy is central to what makes it extraordinary. Funded largely through federal support and philanthropy, the system embodies a belief that education, history and art should be available to all.

Residents like Jones find this accessibility turned Washington into a living classroom, where anyone can walk from the National Air and Space Museum to the African American History and Culture Museum to encounter entire worlds of knowledge in an afternoon.

Now, with the museums temporarily closed, Jones and other enthusiasts find themselves at a loss. The silence of shuttered halls underscores what the city loses when its cultural core is inaccessible — not just a tourist attraction — but a shared public good.

The closures have prompted Jones to adapt her quest. She’s turned her attention to outdoor installations and plaques, such as outside the Natural History Museum. Even so, she misses the rhythm of discovery that came from stepping into each gallery and losing herself among artifacts and stories.

She said she sees her museum project not just as a pastime, but as a quiet form of public advocacy. She has documented her journey through the exhibits on Instagram and Tik Tok, which can be found @digitaldocent_ and @digitaldocent, respectively.

“I wanted to share the kind of information that would make someone feel more comfortable trying something they might otherwise not know a bunch about,” Jones said.

Her work online, she reported, has inspired others to see museums as approachable spaces rather than academic ones, and that these stories are often hopeful and helped her worldview become even more open-minded.

“For me, they make me feel small, but like, in a good way. They kind of remind me I’m part of something bigger, and it’s going to be fine, even though it is so chaotic right now,” she said.

As she waits for the museums to reopen, Jones’ mantra remains the same: “My goal is to make curiosity my routine.”

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 (UPI) — The Smithsonian museums and research centers, along with the National Zoo, closed to the public Sunday for the first time during the federal government shutdown and are likely to remain closed until Congress reaches an agreement over national funding.

Though the shutdown officially began Oct. 1, outside funds from donations and endowments allowed a brief extension. Now, its administrators said, the Smithsonian complex must cease public operations until a budget deal.

The closures affect what had been one of the most accessible forms of public education and sightseeing in the United States With 21 museums, 14 research centers and the National Zoo, the Smithsonian is the largest museum and research network in the world.

The absence of open museums cast a palpable gloom over the capital. Though the weekend brought rainy weather that may have suppressed tourism anyway, the lack of activity around the National Mall left the area unusually quiet.

Washington’s reputation as a destination for cultural visitors has long been tied to its museums, and their closure underscores how dependent the city is on federal operations and how vulnerable that model becomes in shutdowns.

Moreover, many district residents work at various Smithsonian complexes, and the shutdown means a majority of Smithsonian staff members have been furloughed. Some essential operations, like at the National Zoo, must continue for animal care, using existing reserves.

The 163-acre public zoo is home to more than 2,200 animals. The private Conservation Biology Institute is in Front Royal Va., 73 miles away. The two employ in total more than 300 staff members and scientists.

For residents and tourists, the museums and zoo had been a “free of cost” option for learning and cultural engagement.

Most of its museums cluster along or near the National Mall, with several other in the D.C. metro area and two facilities in New York City — also closed because of the shutdown.

The portfolio includes institutions devoted to natural history, air and space, African American history and culture, American art and many specialized fields.

In addition to public galleries and exhibitions, the Smithsonian operates research and education centers. These focus on areas like the cnservation Institute, tropical research Institute and conservation biology.

The White House on Thursday issued a press release titled, “President Trump Is Right About the Smithsonian.” The missive arrived in inboxes the day after Trump took to Truth Social to lash out at museums across the country — and the Smithsonian Institute in particular — for being too “woke.”

The president vowed to have his attorneys deal with the Smithsonian in the same punitive and litigious way it has handled colleges and universities that don’t hew to MAGA ideals, and a rep for the White House said that Trump would start with the Smithsonian, “and then go from there.”

The idea that Trump might find some surprising legal loophole to pressure or punish museums that don’t share his appetite for revisionist history, is chilling to many critics, including the the American Alliance of Museums, which recently issued a statement warning of “growing threats of censorship against U.S. museums.”

Trump’s beef with the Smithsonian and affiliated museums is centered on his assertion that its exhibits focus on “how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future.”

The follow-up press release cataloged 22 examples of how the Smithsonian allegedly “prioritizes exhibits that undermine our values and rewrite the American story through a lens of grievance and exclusion.”

But the examples given are all about inclusion — the inclusion of voices that have often been left out of a mainstream dialogue about our nation’s history. Rather than seeming radical, the list appears straightforward and kind.

“The National Museum of the American Latino features programming highlighting ‘animated Latinos and Latinas with disabilities’ — with content from ‘a disabled, plus-sized actress’ and an ‘ambulatory wheelchair user’ who ‘educates on their identity being Latinx, LGBTQ+, and disabled,’ reads one entry.

Then there are the entries that simply rankle Trump based on his own politics of grievance.

“The National Portrait Gallery commissioned a ‘stop-motion drawing animation’ that ‘examines the career’ of Anthony Fauci,” reads another.

There are also bald attempts to censor free artistic expression based on its subject matter: “An American History Museum exhibit features a depiction of the Statue of Liberty ‘holding a tomato in her right hand instead of a torch, and a basket of tomatoes in her left hand instead of a tablet’”; and “The National Portrait Gallery was set to feature a ‘painting depicting a transgender Statue of Liberty’ before the artist withdrew it.”

A desire to exclude is apparent, as in this entry: “The American History Museum prominently displays the ‘Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride flag’ at its entrance, which was also flown alongside the American flag at multiple Smithsonian campuses.”

You can take a look at the full list here. Trump must find something inherently threatening in each example, which can and should be filed under the absurd.

I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, holding a drawing of Fauci in my right hand and a Pride flag in the other. Here’s your weekly arts news roundup.

The week ahead: A curated calendar

FRIDAY

Tom Wilkinson, left, and George Clooney in the Oscar-winning 2007 drama “Michael Clayton,” screening Monday at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.

(Myles Aronowitz / Warner Bros. Pictures)

Friends of the Fest
The American Cinematheque’s third Podcast Film Festival pairs local podcasters with memorable movies, including “Michael Clayton,” “Mississippi Masala,” “Mahogany,” “Carnival of Souls,” “Bottoms” and more.
Through Wednesday. Los Feliz Theatre, 1822 N. Vermont Ave.; Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave. Santa Monica. americancinematheque.com

The Hollywood Bowl’s annual tribute to John Williams returns this weekend.

(Timothy Norris / Los Angeles Philharmonic)

Maestro of the Movies: Celebrating the Music of John Williams
David Newman conducts the L.A. Phil in blockbuster scores from “Jaws,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” “Superman” and “Star Wars,” as well as dramatic epics including “Far and Away,” “Memoirs of a Geisha” and more.
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com

‘Protest’
Fountain Theatre hosts Bricolage Production Company’s revival of Václav Havel’s 1978 two-person, one-act drama set in Communist Czechoslovakia. Jeffrey Carpenter directs actors Steven Schub and Robert Anthony Peters in this limited three-performance run.
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 7 p.m. Sunday. Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave. fountaintheatre.com

SATURDAY
Our Lady’s Dowry: Marian Music from Tudor England
Director Bryan Roach and Musica Transalpina demonstrate the evolution of sacred music in England following the Reformation with “Missa O bone Jhesu” by Robert Fayrfax, as well as works by Christopher Tye and William Byrd.
7:30 p.m. Saturday. Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. sierramadreplayhouse.org

Carlo Maghirang’s art installation “ANITO” is on display Aug. 23–Sept. 7 at Los Angeles State Historic Park.

(Carlo Maghirang)

Carlo Maghirang: ANITO
The artist explores ancestral veneration through queer self-portraiture and the repetitive making of “taotao” figurines, reimagined as a collection of modular forms in a triptych installation at the River Station Roundhouse turntable. There will also be performances by dancer and choreographer Jobel Medina, Saturday at 1 p.m., and artist, musician and healer Anna Luisa Petrisko, Aug. 30, 1 p.m.
8 a.m. to sunset. Saturday through Sept. 7. Los Angeles State Historic Park, 245 N. Spring St. welcometolace.org

Lula Washington Dance Theatre: 45th Anniversary Celebration
The distinctly L.A. contemporary dance troupe presents two North American premieres: “The Master Plan,” a tribute to the late saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, and Tamica Washington-Miller’s “And We Can Fly,” inspired by an the African American folktale. The evening also includes a revival of Donald McKayle’s “Songs of the Disinherited,” two Martha Graham solos — “Deep Song” and “Satyric Festival Song” —and Talley Beatty’s “Mourner’s Bench.”
8 p.m. Saturday. The Ford, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East. theford.com

Youssef Nabil’s ‘I Saved My Belly Dancer’
The artist’s surreal 2015 video short, inspired by his movie-fueled childhood in Cairo, stars Tahar Rahim and Salma Hayek. The exhibition also features related photographs and contemporaneous Egyptian movie posters.
Through Jan. 11. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Resnick Pavilion, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. lacma.org

SUNDAY

Elizabeth Taylor on the set of the film “Boom,” which screens Sunday as part of a triple bill.

(Express Newspapers / Getty Images)

Summer camp with Elizabeth Taylor
A trio of films starring one of Hollywood’s greatest stars leans into the sometimes garish glamour and kitschy melodrama of “Secret Ceremony,” co-starring Mia Farrow and Robert Mitchum, “Boom!,” with Taylor’s on-again, off-again husband Richard Burton — both 1968 releases directed by Joseph Losey — and Brian G. Hutton’s 1972 marital skirmish, “X, Y & Zee,” featuring Michael Caine and Susannah York.
2:30 Sunday. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org

TUESDAY
Beethoven Under the Stars
The L.A. Phil, conducted by Giedrė Šlekytė, is joined by Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii, “Nobu” to his fans, for an evening entirely devoted to the great German composer’s work.
8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com

WEDNESDAY

Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs, from left, Glynn Turman and Corin Rogers in the 1975 movie “Cooley High,” screening Wednesday at the Academy Museum.

(American International Pictures)

Cooley High
The Academy Museum presents a 35 mm screening of the influential 1975 coming-of-age drama about two best friends in 1964 Chicago with in-person guests director Michael Schultz, actors Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs and Glynn Turman, and filmmaker Ava DuVernay.
7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org

THURSDAY

Yo-Yo Ma and Angélique Kidjo perform Thursday at the Hollywood Bowl.

(L.A. Phil)

Sarabande Africaine
Singer-songwriter Angélique Kidjo and cellist Yo-Yo Ma continue their collaborative creative musical conversation exploring the many centuries of interaction between African musical idioms and Western classical music. They’ll be joined by multi-instrumentalist Thierry Vaton, Grammy-winning producer David Donatien and genre-blending musician Sinkane.
8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com

Culture news

A cast of immigrants and the children of immigrants are set to stage a live reading of the cult comedy “Superbad” on Sunday. Participating actors include comedian Hasan Minhaj, Cobie Smulders, Melissa Fumero and Harvey Guillén. The event is free, and it will be livestreamed on the website for Immigrant Defenders Law Center, a social justice law firm that has been working with Southern California’s Latino residents threatened by ongoing ICE raids. De Los’ Andrea Flores has the full story.

Giovanni Guida and his grattage on canvas, “Apotheosis.”

(Daniela Matarazzo)

The uncle of an Italian artist named Giovanni Guida recently wrote me an email to alert me to the inclusion of his nephew in the Getty Vocabularies’ union list of visual artists. What is notable about Guida, his uncle told me, is that he is one of the youngest painters recognized in the resource for his use of the grattage painting technique pioneered by surrealist artist Max Ernst. Grattage is made by placing a painted canvas over a textured object and rubbing the paint off with often unexpected results. Since grattage has now been in use for about 100 years, today seemed like a nice day to highlight it, and to say congratulations to Guida.

The SoCal scene

The North American tour of “& Juliet” at the Ahmanson.

(Matthew Murphy)

Swedish hitmaker Max Martin showed up at the Ahmanson Theatre Friday for the opening of the jukebox musical “& Juliet,” which features dozens of Martin’s chart-topping collaborations with the likes of Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears. A few days earlier, I interviewed Martin and the show’s writer, David West Read, who won an Emmy for his work on the comedy “Schitt’s Creek.” The pair happily broke down the genesis of the musical, which was more than a decade in the making. The most important part of development, said Martin, was that the songs not be shoehorned into a subpar plot.

That didn’t happen, writes Times theater critic Charles McNulty in his review. As an example, McNulty cited a song by the Backstreet Boys called “I Want it That Way,” which was “redeployed in a way that has little bearing on the lyrics but somehow feels coherent with the original emotion.” Overall, McNulty concludes that the show, which reimagines what would happen if Juliet decided not to kill herself after she finds Romeo dead, “establishes just the right party atmosphere.”

Gustavo Dudamel is an extremely difficult act to follow, writes Times classical music critic Mark Swed. The beloved Los Angeles Philharmonic conductor was scheduled to perform two weeks at the Hollywood Bowl this summer but had to cancel his second week with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra due to the Trump administration’s new travel restrictions. The orchestra filled the second week with “two talented conductors who were Dudamel fellows and are now enjoying prospering careers, Elim Chan and Gemma New,” writes Swed in a review that examines the high and low points of the substitutions. “These concerts give hope and reaffirm that life goes on. All acts, no matter the challenge, must be followed,” Swed writes.

Tami Outterbridge, daughter of artist John Outterbridge, takes a break from sifting through the ashes of her father’s home in Altadena.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Writer Lynell George pens a thoughtful first-person piece about her experiences with the circle of artists in the orbit of famed artist John Outterbridge in Southern California’s Black Arts Movement. Outterbridge died in 2020, and his home and studio in Altadena were both destroyed in January’s devastating Eaton fire. His daughter Tami soon developed a plan to gather friends to sift through the ashes in search of art — metal, shards of ceramics and glass, the same kinds of materials Outterbridge used in his own potent assemblages.

Exterior of the Eames House, Case Study House #8, in a eucalyptus grove.

(Buyenlarge / Getty Images)

The Eames House reopened late last month after a five-month closure necessitated by smoke damage from January’s Palisades fire. Now that the property has been cleaned and restored, the Eames family has unveiled its adjacent creative studio to the public — making it a space for exhibitions, lectures, podcasts and more. It also launched a new and expanded Charles & Ray Eames Foundation with the goal of building on the Eames design legacy globally. In addition, admission will now be free to first responders as well as residents of the Pacific Palisades and Altadena.

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

The X account for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office has gone full Trump parody with often hilarious results.

Aug. 19 (UPI) — President Donald Trump stepped up his criticisms of the Smithsonian on Tuesday, deriding the museums for its negative portrayal of slavery in American history.

Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform that he would direct his attorneys to “review” the Smithsonian in the same way his administration has sought to reshape colleges and universities. The post comes a week after the White House announced it was subjecting the influential museum consortium to an unprecedented examination of its materials, signaling it had become a focal point in Trump’s efforts to transform cultural institutions.

In his post, Trump wrote that museums all over the country are the “last remaining segment of ‘woke.'”

“The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future,” Trump wrote.

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., reacted with a post on X, writing that if “Trump thinks slavery wasn’t bad, he clearly needs to spend more time in a museum.”

Roughly 17 million people visited one of the Smithsonian’s 21 museums and galleries last year.

Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch III, who is the first African American to lead the institution and has held the position since 2019, has previously commented on the importance of acknowledging slavery’s impact on American history.

“I believe strongly that you cannot understand America without understanding slavery, that our notions of freedom, our notions of liberty are juxtaposed with our notions of enslavement,” he said in an interview on Face the Nation in 2021. “And so I think that it’s not about pointing blame, it’s not about remembering difficult moments just to hurt.”

Last week, three White House aides wrote to Bunch in a letter notifying him the museum would be subject to a review to “ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”

The reshaping of the Smithsonian and its galleries and museums has been part the Trump administration’s goal to remove left-leaning ideology from the federal government and cultural institutions.

In March, Trump signed an executive order directing the Smithsonian to eliminate “divisive” and “anti-American ideology” from its museums, pointing to exhibits that “promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.”

He also named himself chairman of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, seemingly in opposition to its having hosted performances he disagreed with for promoting so-called woke ideology. The move prompted many performances and performers to cancel shows.

President Trump on Tuesday said he intends to expand his crusade against what he calls “woke” ideology from the Smithsonian Institution to museums across the country.

“The Museums throughout Washington, but all over the Country are, essentially, the last remaining segment of ‘WOKE,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that the Smithsonian is “out of control,” and that everything featured in its exhibits discuss, “how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future.”

To prevent more of the same in other institutions, Trump said he has instructed his attorneys, “to go through the Museums, and start the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities where tremendous progress has been made.”

Contacted for comment, a White House rep said, “President Trump will explore all options and avenues to get the Woke out of the Smithsonian and hold them accountable. He will start with the Smithsonian and then go from there.”

They did not respond to a request for clarification on how the administration intends to vet the content of exhibits at other museums, or whether or not the president intends to issue an executive order with details on a plan.

Trump’s concern about the Smithsonian first became public in late March when he issued an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which directed Vice President JD Vance to remove “improper ideology” from the Smithsonian’s 21 museums and the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

Two months later, Trump exerted even greater control when he said he’d fired Kim Sajet, the longtime director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, for being “a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI.” It soon became apparent that it wasn’t in Trump’s power to do so and Sajet continued to work.

In early June the Smithsonian rejected Trump’s attempt to fire Sajet after a lengthy Board of Regents meeting. The Regents issued a statement stating that the organization’s secretary, Lonnie G. Bunch, “has the support of the Board of Regents in his authority and management of the Smithsonian.” It was implied that Bunch would be the one making personnel decisions, not Trump.

Still, the statement opened the door to the idea that the Smithsonian might make changes that would appease Trump’s criticism.

“To reinforce our nonpartisan stature, the Board of Regents has directed the Secretary to articulate specific expectations to museum directors and staff regarding content in Smithsonian museums, give directors reasonable time to make any needed changes to ensure unbiased content, and to report back to the Board on progress and any needed personnel changes based on success or lack thereof in making the needed changes,” the statement read.

Sajet resigned a few days later, writing in a note to staff, “From the very beginning, my guiding principle has been to put the museum first. Today, I believe that stepping aside is the best way to serve the institution I hold so deeply in my heart.”

Other museums are ringing alarm bells about what it could mean for art and history at large.

The Japanese American National Museum in L.A.’s Little Tokyo recently issued a statement condemning what it called the, “Reshaping of Smithsonian Museums” to fit “the administration’s historical interpretation.”

“These latest attempts to sanitize and reshape history to fit a narrow ideological narrative amount to nothing less than the erasure of history,” said JANM’s President and Chief Executive Ann Burroughs. “We cannot reverse America’s journey toward a more just and equitable future. Museums must be places of truth, not propaganda — spaces where the next generation can confront the complexity of our nation’s injustices, mistakes, and darkest chapters; where empathy, social responsibility, and the courage to defend democracy are nurtured.”

The American Alliance of Museums also recently issued a statement warning of “growing threats of censorship against U.S. museums.”

“In recent months, museums have faced increasing external pressures to modify, remove, or limit exhibitions and programs,” the statement read. “People trust museums because they rely on independent scholarship and research, uphold high professional standards, and embrace open inquiry. When any directive dictates what should or should not be displayed, it risks narrowing the public’s window into evidence, ideas, and a full range of perspectives.

“This is not just a concern for select institutions,” the statement continued. “These pressures can create a chilling effect across the entire museum sector.”

The US President says a review of the national museums will be similar to those he has ordered for universities.

United States President Donald Trump has said the nation’s Smithsonian museums only discuss “horrible” topics, including “how bad Slavery was”, as his administration continues a review into the institution’s exhibits for their “Americanism”.

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, Trump said the Smithsonian is “OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is”, including “how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been”.

Elaborating on a review of several of the Smithsonian’s 21 museums and galleries ordered by the White House last week, Trump said he has instructed his lawyers “to go through the Museums” and “start the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities where tremendous progress has been made”.

“This Country cannot be WOKE, because WOKE IS BROKE,” Trump added.

The Organisation of American Historians (OAH) has expressed “deep concern and dismay” at the White House’s “unprecedented” request to review the Smithsonian’s exhibits, adding that “no president has the legitimate authority to impose such a review”.

The Smithsonian receives most of its budget from Congress but is independent of the government in decision-making.

The OAH also said that “it is particularly distressing to see this effort of historical censorship and sanitising tied to the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding”.

The Trump administration said it ordered the review of museums in advance of next year’s milestone, which will mark 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

It was not until decades later, on December 18, 1865, that the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution officially abolished chattel slavery nationwide, although exceptions continued.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture, which was opened in 2016 with a ceremony led by then-President Barack Obama, is one of the museums the White House has included in its review.

According to the museum’s website, visitors learn about the “richness and diversity of the African American experience” with exhibits ranging from a plantation cabin from South Carolina to Chuck Berry’s red Cadillac convertible.

The freedom of expression organisation PEN America has also expressed alarm at the Trump administration’s “sweeping review” of Smithsonian exhibits.

“The administration’s efforts to rewrite history are a betrayal of our democratic traditions and a deeply concerning effort to strip truth from the institutions that tell our national story,” Hadar Harris, the managing director of PEN America’s Washington, DC, office, said in a statement.

Trump has made threats to cut federal funding for top US educational institutions, citing pro-Palestinian protests against US ally Israel’s war on Gaza, transgender policies, climate initiatives and diversity, equity and inclusion programmes.

Last month, the government settled probes into Columbia University, which agreed to pay $221m, and Brown University, which said it would pay $50m to the government. Both institutions also accepted certain government demands, including how some topics are taught.

Harvard University has sued the Trump administration to halt the freezing of $2.3bn of its federal funding.

The White House has ordered an extensive review of the Smithsonian museums and exhibitions in advance of next year’s 250th anniversary of the United States, with the goal of aligning the institution’s content with President Donald Trump’s interpretation of US history.

In a letter sent on Tuesday to Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch III, the White House laid out in detail the steps it expects the organisation to take so that museum content can be reviewed for a focus on “Americanism”.

The federal government will review public-facing museum content, such as social media, exhibition text and educational materials, to “assess tone, historical framing, and alignment with American ideals”, the letter said.

“This initiative aims to ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions,” the letter added.

In a statement responding to the letter, the Smithsonian said it remained committed to “scholarly excellence, rigorous research, and the accurate, factual presentation of history”.

“We are reviewing the letter with this commitment in mind and will continue to collaborate constructively with the White House, Congress, and our governing Board of Regents,” it said.

The White House said that the review is in line with the Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History Executive Order, which Trump signed in March.

At the time, the Congressional Black Caucus, made up of Black members of the US Congress, described the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict the Smithsonian Institution as “whitewashing our nation’s history”.

“Donald Trump’s idea that the National Museum of African American History and Culture is guilty of distorting our nation’s history or painting our ‘founding principles’ in a ‘negative light’ is patently ridiculous,” the caucus said in a statement.

“Let’s be clear, Black history is American history. Any rhetoric that opposes this notion is not only factually incorrect but blatantly racist,” the caucus said.

“It is the Trump Administration that bans books, words, and phrases that do not fit their narrative. It is the Trump Administration that wants to erase and retell our history,” the caucus added.

The White House said the review would initially focus on the National Museum of American History, the National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Museum of the American Indian, the National Air and Space Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Portrait Gallery and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

The museums under review are all located in Washington, DC, where the president this week ordered the deployment of the US National Guard to tackle a purported crime wave that city officials in the capital have refuted.

The museums all offer free admission and attract millions of visitors each year, with the National Museum of American History alone recording 2 million in-person visits in 2024.

The Smithsonian has repeatedly denied allegations that it has changed or removed exhibit details in response to pressure from the Trump administration. Recently, the institution removed references to Trump’s two impeachments from an exhibit on the US presidency. The Smithsonian Institution said that a placard was removed for reasons related to consistency and because it “blocked the view of the objects inside its case”.

“We were not asked by any Administration or other government officials to remove content from the exhibit,” the Institution said.

The Smithsonian Institution, which runs 21 museums and the National Zoo, said at the time that the impeachment section of the museum would be updated in the coming weeks to “reflect all impeachment proceedings in our nation’s history”.

Trump was impeached in January 2021, for “incitement of insurrection”, after a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Aug. 12 (UPI) — The White House has ordered a sweeping review of the Smithsonian’s exhibitions and materials as part of President Donald Trump‘s efforts to promote a rosier presentation of the nation’s past.

The order came in a letter signed by three White House aides to Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III that was posted online Tuesday. The letter indicates that the Trump administration is again turning its attention on the Smithsonian, a premiere group of museums and research centers located in the nation’s capital, as it seeks to reshape cultural institutions.

The letter requested a sizable list of the Smithsonian’s internal documents that will be used in a review to ensure the museum aligns with an earlier Trump administration directive “to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”

The review will focus on eight of the Smithsonian’s museums with an eye on next year’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the museum’s plans for the event, according to the letter. Materials that will be included in the review included exhibition texts, educational materials and social media “to assess tone, historical framing, and alignment with American ideals.”

“As we prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding, it is more important than ever that our national museums reflect the unity, progress, and enduring values that define the American story,” states the letter signed by aides Lindsey Halligan, Vince Haley and Russell Vought.

This isn’t the first time Trump has sought more control over the Smithsonian. Earlier in his term, Trump issued an executive order seeking to end “influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology” at the Smithsonian. More recently, Smithsonian staff temporarily removed references to Trump’s two impeachments from an exhibit on presidential power.

The upcoming review of the Smithsonian will also include interviews with staff to understand the development of its exhibits, according to the letter, which states that its goal is not to interfere with its operations.

Additionally, the review will evaluate how existing materials and collections “are being used or could be used to highlight American achievement and progress” and if they should be conveyed to other institutions. Lastly, the review will seek “the development of consistent curatorial guidelines that reflect the Smithsonian’s original mission.”

NEW YORK — It would seem the most straightforward of notions: A thing takes place, and it goes into the history books or is added to museum exhibits. But whether something even gets remembered and how — particularly when it comes to the history of a country and its leader — can become complex, especially when the leader is Donald Trump.

The latest example of that came Friday, when the Smithsonian Institution said it had removed a reference to Trump’s 2019 and 2021 impeachments from a panel in an exhibition about the American presidency. Trump has pressed institutions and agencies under federal oversight, often through the pressure of funding, to focus on the country’s achievements and progress and away from things he terms “divisive.”

The Smithsonian on Saturday denied getting pressure from the Trump administration to remove the reference, which had been installed as part of a temporary addition in 2021. The exhibit “will be updated in the coming weeks to reflect all impeachment proceedings in our nation’s history,” the museum said in a statement.

In a statement that did not directly address the impeachment references, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said: “We are fully supportive of updating displays to highlight American greatness.”

But is history intended to highlight or to document — to report what happened, or to serve a desired narrative? The answer, as with most things about the past, can be complicated.

American stories

The Smithsonian’s move comes as the Trump administration has asserted its dominion over many American institutions, such as removing the name of a gay rights activist from a Navy ship, pushing for Republican supporters in Congress to defund the Corp. for Public Broadcasting — prompting its elimination — and getting rid of the leadership at the Kennedy Center.

“Based on what we have been seeing, this is part of a broader effort by the president to influence and shape how history is depicted at museums, national parks and schools,” said Julian E. Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. “Not only is he pushing a specific narrative of the United States but, in this case, trying to influence how Americans learn about his own role in history.”

It’s not a new struggle, in the world generally and the political world particularly. There is power in being able to shape how things are remembered, if they are remembered at all — who was there, who took part, who was responsible, what happened to lead up to that point in history. And the human beings who run things have often extended their authority to the stories told about them.

In China, for example, references to the June 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square are forbidden and meticulously regulated by the ruling Communist Party government. In Soviet-era Russia, officials who ran afoul of leaders such as Josef Stalin disappeared not only from the government itself but from photographs and history books where they once appeared.

Jason Stanley, an expert on authoritarianism, said controlling what and how people learn of their past has long been used as a vital tool to maintain power. Stanley has made his views about the Trump administration clear; he recently left Yale University to join the University of Toronto, citing concerns over the U.S. political situation.

“If they don’t control the historical narrative,” he said, “then they can’t create the kind of fake history that props up their politics.”

Framing history

In the United States, presidents and their families have used their power to shape history and calibrate their own images. Jackie Kennedy insisted on cuts in William Manchester’s book on her husband’s 1963 assassination, “The Death of a President.” Ronald Reagan and his wife got a cable TV channel to release a carefully calibrated documentary about him. Those around Franklin D. Roosevelt, including journalists of the era, took pains to mask the effects of paralysis on his body and his mobility.

Trump, though, has asserted far greater control — a sitting president encouraging an atmosphere where institutions can feel compelled to choose between him and the facts, whether he calls for it directly or not.

“We are constantly trying to position ourselves in history as citizens — as citizens of the country, citizens of the world,” said Robin Wagner-Pacifici, professor emerita of sociology at the New School for Social Research. “So part of these exhibits and monuments are also about situating us in time. And without it, it’s very hard for us to situate ourselves in history because it seems like we just kind of burst forth from the Earth.”

Timothy Naftali, director of the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda from 2007 to 2011, presided over its overhaul to offer a more objective presentation of Watergate — one not beholden to the president’s loyalists. In an interview Friday, he said he was “concerned and disappointed” about the Smithsonian decision. Naftali, now a senior researcher at Columbia University, said that museum directors “should have red lines” and that he considered one of them to be the removal of the Trump impeachment panel.

While it might seem inconsequential for someone in power to care about a museum’s offerings, Wagner-Pacifici says Trump’s outlook on history and his role in it — earlier this year, he said the Smithsonian had “come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology” — shows how important those matters are to people in authority.

“You might say about that person, whoever that person is, their power is so immense and their legitimacy is so stable and so sort of monumental that why would they bother with things like this … why would they bother to waste their energy and effort on that?” Wagner-Pacifici said. Her conclusion: “The legitimacy of those in power has to be reconstituted constantly. They can never rest on their laurels.”

Hajela and Italie write for the Associated Press.

Aug. 2 (UPI) — Smithsonian Institution staff temporarily have removed the mention of all presidential impeachment efforts, including President Donald Trump‘s two impeachments, from an exhibit on presidential power.

The impeachment mentions were part of an exhibit called “Limits on Presidential Power,” but they have been removed while the Smithsonian renovates the exhibit, which last was updated after its last review in 2008, ABC News reported.

“In reviewing our legacy content recently, it became clear that the ‘Limits of Presidential Power’ section in ‘The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden’ needed to be addressed,” a Smithsonian spokesperson told ABC News.

“The section of this exhibition covers Congress, the Supreme Court, impeachment and public opinion,” the spokesperson said.

A temporary label within the exhibit had described the two impeachments against Trump and those against former Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.

It also discussed the pending impeachment of former President Richard Nixon, who resigned before the House of Representatives could vote on articles of impeachment against him.

The label also told visitors that the exhibit’s case is being redesigned, which it now is undergoing.

Until the exhibit is updated, the Trump impeachment mentions and all others won’t be included.

“A future and updated exhibit will include all impeachments,” the Smithsonian staff said in a statement to The Washington Post.

Meanwhile, the exhibit says, “Only three presidents have seriously faced removal.”

“The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden” exhibit opened at the Smithsonian in 2000.

The exhibit displays photos of Johnson’s impeachment prosecutors in 1868, the investigative report that led to Clinton’s 1999 impeachment and a filing cabinet that was damaged during the 1972 Watergate Hotel break-in that led to Nixon resigning two years later.

An online version of the exhibit still includes information on all five impeachment efforts.

The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives impeached Trump in 2019 due to alleged abuse of power and obstruction of Congress regarding its so-called Russiagate investigation.

The House voted to impeach Trump again on Jan. 13, 2021, days after the Jan. 6 siege on the Capitol as the U.S. Senate counted votes to confirm former President Joe Biden‘s 2020 election win.

Both impeachment efforts failed in the Senate.

NEW YORK — The Smithsonian Institution has removed from an exhibit a reference to President Trump’s two impeachments, a decision that comes as the White House exerts pressure to offer a more positive — and selective — view of American history. A spokesperson said the exhibit eventually “will include all impeachments.”

A label referring to impeachment had been added in 2021 to the National Museum for American History’s exhibit on the American presidency, in a section called “Limits of Presidential Power.” Smithsonian spokesperson Phillip Zimmerman said Friday that the section, which includes materials on the impeachment of President Clinton and the Watergate scandal that helped lead to President Nixon’s resignation, needed to be overhauled. He said the decision came after the museum was “reviewing our legacy content recently.”

“Because the other topics in this section had not been updated since 2008, the decision was made to restore the Impeachment case back to its 2008 appearance,” Zimmerman said in an email.

He said that in September 2021, the museum installed a temporary label on content concerning Trump’s impeachments. “It was intended to be a short-term measure to address current events at the time,” he said. But the label remained in place.

“A large permanent gallery like the American Presidency that opened in 2000 requires a significant amount of time and funding to update and renew,” he said. “A future and updated exhibit will include all impeachments.”

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said the Smithsonian has “highlighted divisive DEI exhibits which are out of touch with mainstream America” for too long.

“We are fully supportive of updating displays to highlight American greatness,” he said in a statement that did not address the missing reference to Trump’s impeachments.

Trump’s impeachments were more recent

Trump is the only president to have been impeached twice — in 2019, for pushing Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden, who would defeat Trump in the 2020 election; and in 2021 for “incitement of insurrection,” a reference to the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters attempting to halt congressional certification of Biden’s victory.

The Democratic majority in the House voted each time for impeachment. The Republican-led Senate each time acquitted Trump. Soon after Trump’s first impeachment, the history museum issued a statement saying that curators “will determine which objects best represent these historic events for inclusion in the national collection.”

Since returning to office in January, Trump has cut funding, forced out officials and otherwise demanded changes across a range of Washington cultural institutions, including the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The current administration has targeted interpretations of history

In March, Trump issued an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” in which he alleged that the Smithsonian was beholden to “a divisive, race-centered ideology.” He has placed Vice President JD Vance in charge of an effort to ensure no funding goes to “exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy.”

Congressional Democrats issued a statement in April calling Trump’s order a “flagrant attempt to erase Black history.”

Last week, artist Amy Sherald canceled a planned exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery after officials raised concerns over her painting “Trans Forming Liberty, 2024,” in which she depicts a nonbinary transgender person posing as the Statue of Liberty. Sherald is best known for her painting of then-First Lady Michelle Obama, which was commissioned by the Portrait Gallery.

Founded in the 19th century, the Smithsonian oversees a network of cultural centers that includes the portrait gallery, the history museum, the National Zoo and the Smithsonian Gardens. News of the Trump impeachment label being removed was first reported by the Washington Post.

Italie writes for the Associated Press.

The Smithsonian Institution has faced pressure from President Trump since March when he issued his “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” executive order, which demanded an end to federal funding for exhibitions and programs based on racial themes that “divide Americans.”

Amid Trump’s headline-grabbing gambits to remake the landscape of American arts and culture into a more MAGA-friendly image, another challenge to the Smithsonian flew largely under the radar. In early April, Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz introduced the Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act, which proposed to move the space shuttle Discovery from the National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia to a spot near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The act was folded into President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which Trump signed into law on July 4.

NASA gifted the Discovery to the Smithsonian in 2012 and it has been in Virginia ever since. Discovery launched on its maiden voyage in 1984 and flew 39 Earth-orbital missions — more than any other orbiter. The Smithsonian considers it a key part of its collection and issued a statement to Congress objecting to the proposed move. According to the Hill, the statement noted that “the case against relocating the orbiter Discovery is both philosophical and practical … It would be unprecedented for Congress to remove an object from a Smithsonian collection and send it somewhere else.”

In late June, the Houston Business Journal reported that the Smithsonian estimated the cost of moving Discovery to Texas would be between $300 and $400 million, far more than the $85 million cited by Cornyn and Cruz in Trump’s massive reconciliation and spending package.

Since the passage of of the bill, the fight over Discovery has heated up. Earlier this week, Rep. Joe Morelle, a Democrat from New York, introduced an amendment to keep Discovery at the Smithsonian. The Appropriations Committee agreed to the amendment, which now moves to the Rules Committee before going to the House floor for a vote.

“The forced removal and relocation of the Space Shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian Institution’s Air and Space Museum is inappropriate, wasteful, and wrong. Neither the Smithsonian nor American taxpayers should be forced to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on this misguided effort. I am grateful for the bipartisan support of my colleagues on this amendment and hope we can continue working together throughout the remainder of the Appropriations process to keep a treasured Smithsonian artifact where it belongs,” Morelle said in a statement sent to The Times.

The Smithsonian did not respond to a request for comment on the evolving situation, or its quest to keep the Discovery in its collection.

I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, hoping to orbit a positive news cycle someday soon. Here’s your arts and culture roundup for this week.

The corpse flower is ready to bloom again at Huntington Garden.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The Corpse Flower
The infamously stinky plant, formally Titan Arum (Amorphophallus titanum), “produces the largest unbranched inflorescence in the plant kingdom” and is known for its pungent aroma. “Green Boy,” one of 43 corpse flowers in the Huntington’s collection may have already blossomed by the time you read this, so be sure to check it out as the bloom lasts only 24-48 hours. “It smells pretty bad,” Brandon Tam, the Huntington’s associate curator of orchids,” told Times summer intern Aspen Anderson in her story on the event. But for those who prefer to avoid the full olfactory experience, there’s a livestream.
10 a.m.–5 p.m., closed Tuesday. The Huntington, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. huntington.org

Father John Misty performing in Atlanta in 2023.

(Paul R. Giunta / Invision / AP)

Father John Misty
Josh Tillman, whose Misty persona was described in a 2017 profile by Times pop music critic Mikael Wood as “a convivial (if polarizing) chronicler of society’s growing absurdity,” is joined by Lucinda Williams and Hamilton Leithauser for an eclectic evening of indie rock and folk.
7 p.m. Friday. Greek Theatre, 2700 N. Vermont Ave. lagreektheatre.com

Phasmagorica: The Room Between Worlds
Limited to nine audiences members at a time, this “experiential paranormal encounter” proudly boasts that it is not a performance and does not use actors. Instead, sacred geometry, occult methodology, immersive light phenomena and 13 speakers of Dolby Atmos sound produce “a fully-contained, tactile installation designed to provoke contact.” Guests are guided through a séance featuring spirit communication via arcane instruments and trigger objects, fortune-telling and psychological thresholds.
7:30 and 9:15 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Heritage Square Museum, 3800 Homer St. twilightdisturbances.com

Heather Graham, left, and Mike Myers star in the 1999 movie “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.”

(New Line Cinema)

Austin Powers triple feature
Yeah, baby! The academy’s “Summer of Camp” series continues with the shagadelic trilogy of “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” (1997), “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” (1999) and “Austin Powers in Goldmember” (2002). Director Jay Roach will be in attendance.
2 p.m. Saturday. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org

Billy Woodberry
The MOCA Artist Film Series presents the L.A. Rebellion filmmaker’s 2016 feature, “And when I die, I won’t stay dead,” a documentary on the life of Beat poet Bob Kaufman. Best known for “Bless Their Little Hearts” (1983), Woodberry assembled archival footage and photos, interviews with Kaufman’s contemporaries, and readings from Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis and others, plus a jazz soundtrack featuring Billie Holiday and Ornette Coleman.
3 p.m. Saturday. Museum of Contemporary Art, 250 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. moca.org

Queens of Soul
The peacocks and peahens will not be the only ones strutting and preening at the L.A. County Arboretum when the Pasadena Pops performs this salute to such divas as Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys, Adele and others, featuring hit songs such as “Respect,” “Proud Mary, “I’m Every Woman” and “Rolling in the Deep.”
7:30 p.m. Saturday. L.A. County Arboretum, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia. pasadenasymphony-pops.org

Black Pasifika: Deep Sea Protocols
Writer, relational architect and guerrilla theorist Neema Githere hosts this program exploring the links between climate crisis and technology across Melanesia. Githere will provide context and discuss deep-sea protocols and the consequences of technological accelerationism on sea-stewarding peoples from the Swahili coast to Melanesia with their grandfather, Dr. Gilbert Githere, founder of the Mombasa-Honolulu Sister City society. The filmic essay “AI: African Intelligence” by Manthia Diawara searches for a more humane and spiritual control of algorithms. Ahead of the program, from 10 a.m.–6 p.m., the time-based somatic works “Oceanic Refractions” and “Cries From the Moana” will be shown on monitors in LACMA’s Smidt Welcome Plaza.
6 p.m. Sunday. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. lacma.org

L.A. Phil at the Hollywood Bowl
In a week of debuts, Italian conductor Daniele Rustioni, recently appointed principal guest conductor of the Metropolitan Opera, makes his Los Angeles Philharmonic bow leading the orchestra through Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto” (with soloist Veronika Eberle), selections from Berlioz and Liszt, and Respighi’s “Pines of Rome.” Two nights later, former Dudamel Fellow and current Boston Symphony Orchestra assistant conductor Anna Handler makes her first Bowl appearance, leading the Phil in the world premiere of Eunike Tanzil’s “Ode to the City of Dreams,” Mozart’s “Concerto for Flute and Harp” and Richard Strauss’ “Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30.” Mendelssohn, 8 p.m. Tuesday; Tanzil, Mozart and Strauss, 8 p.m. Thursday. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com

— Kevin Crust

The SoCal scene

“Buddha Shakyamuni,” Burma (Myanmar), circa 13th century; lacquered wood

(Christopher Knight / Los Angeles Times)

Times art critic Christopher Knight was thrilled to see the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s exhibit “Realms of the Dharma: Buddhist Art Across Asia.” Currently installed in the temporary exhibition spaces of the Resnick Pavilion, the show consists of roughly 180 objects that have been in storage for years after being boxed up in preparation for the demolition of the museum’s original campus and the debut of the new David Geffen Galleries. Catch the exhibit now, before it gets stowed away again, writes Knight, adding that it “includes some of the most splendid sculptures and paintings” in the museum’s permanent collection.

Times classical music critic Mark Swed hopped a plane to Austria and headed for the small town of Bregenz, where a major arts festival that attracts more than 250,000 visitors in July and August and boasts a $31-million budget is hosted. The biggest draw at the bustling festival is opera, and the biggest show is a production staged each year on the Seebühne — a massive stage built directly on Lake Constance with bleachers to accommodate an audience of 7,000. “This year’s ‘Die Freischütz,’ Carl Maria von Weber’s early 19th century opera about a huntsman who makes a very bad deal with the devil for a magic bullet, opened last week and runs through Aug. 17,” writes Swed. “All 27 performances are expected to sell out as usual for the kind of spectacle that exists nowhere else.” Read all about the world-famous technical and artistic extravaganza, here.

Culture news

Johanna Burton was named the new Executive Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art.

(Photo: Erin Leland)

Johanna Burton is leaving the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, to become the new director of the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, ICA Philadelphia announced Thursday. Burton became MOCA’s first female director in 2021 after its recently named Artistic Director Klaus Biesenbach unceremoniously left his position for a job in Berlin. Burton’s departure makes her the fifth director to leave MOCA since 2008. Burton will fill the role at ICA Philadelphia left vacant by Zoë Ryan who exited the museum to take over leadership at the UCLA Hammer Museum in Westwood after its longtime director Ann Philbin retired. MOCA did not respond to a request for comment about Burton’s departure.

Architect Paul R. Williams’ L.A. building, Founders Church of Religious Science, is among five structures across the country picked to receive funding through the Getty Foundation’s Conserving Black Modernism Initiative. Announced earlier this week by the foundation and the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, the money will support preservation plans for the buildings and further train caretakers in maintenance best practices. Another overarching goal is to increase public awareness of the architects’ legacies and the buildings they created. The other four buildings receiving Getty funds are the ITC Administration Building in Atlanta, designed by Edward C. Miller; First Church of Deliverance in Chicago, an adaptive reuse project redesigned by Walter T. Bailey; McKenzie Hall in Eugene, Ore., designed by DeNorval Unthank Jr.; and Vassar College’s 2500 New Hackensack building in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., by Jeh Vincent Johnson.

Contemporary artist Amy Sherald with her painting “As American as apple pie” in 2021.

(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

Artist Amy Sherald has canceled her upcoming solo show, “American Sublime,” at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, citing censorship after she was told the museum wanted to exclude a painting featuring a transgender woman holding a torch in a pose meant to evoke the Statue of Liberty. Sherald was told that the museum did not want to provoke a reaction from President Trump, who has brought anti-trans ideals into the federal government. In a statement to the New York Times, Sherald wrote, “It’s clear that institutional fear shaped by a broader climate of political hostility toward trans lives played a role.”

The Ebell of Los Angeles has named Camille Schenkkan its chief operating officer. The nonprofit organization, which dedicates itself to “inspiring women and fostering community through arts, culture and education,” was founded in 1894 and occupies one of the city’s most storied historic buildings — a campus and theater designed in 1927 by architect Sumner Hunt. Schenkkan arrives at the Ebell from Center Theatre Group, where she served as deputy managing director.

Republican members of the House Appropriations Committee introduced a proposal earlier this week to rename the Opera House at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington after the first lady, Melania Trump.

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

Marlee Matlin shared her favorite Sunday activities with The Times — including a stop for pizza in Eagle Rock (hint: it’s a classic). See you there!

President Trump got his way Friday, just not on his terms.

Two weeks after Trump said he fired the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery director, Kim Sajet, she stepped down of her own accord.

“It has been the honor of a lifetime to lead the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. This was not an easy decision, but I believe it is the right one,” Sajet wrote in a note to staff shared in an email by the Smithsonian Institution’s leader, Lonnie Bunch. “From the very beginning, my guiding principle has been to put the museum first. Today, I believe that stepping aside is the best way to serve the institution I hold so deeply in my heart. The role of a museum director has never been about one individual — it is a shared mission, driven by the passion, creativity, and dedication of an extraordinary team.”

The news follows Trump’s May 30 post on Truth Social that he was firing Sajet, the first woman to hold her post at the National Portrait Gallery, for being “a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI.”

Trump’s authority to fire Sajet immediately came under question. The Smithsonian is not part of the executive branch, and the president does not choose its Board of Regents. Reports soon surfaced that Sajet continued to show up at work each day.

On Monday the Board of Regents held a lengthy meeting and then issued a statement that said Secretary Bunch had the board’s support “in his authority and management of the Smithsonian.” The statement declared the institution’s full independence, including in personnel decisions. The statement said Bunch had been directed to “articulate specific expectations to museum directors and staff regarding content in Smithsonian museums, give directors reasonable time to make any needed changes to ensure unbiased content, and to report back to the Board on progress and any needed personnel changes based on success or lack thereof in making the needed changes.”

It is unclear if Sajet, who served as the museum’s director for 12 years, made her decision prior to the Board of Regents meeting. The Smithsonian did not respond to a question about that.

“Once again, we thank Kim for her service. Her decision to put the museum first is to be applauded and appreciated,” Bunch wrote in his email to staff. “I know this was not an easy decision. She put the needs of the Institution above her own, and for that we thank her.”

Kevin Gover, the undersecretary for museums and culture, will serve as acting director, Bunch said.

The Smithsonian has a delicate task ahead as it moves forward following Trump’s March 27 executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” It directs Vice President JD Vance to remove “improper ideology” from the Smithsonian’s 21 museums and the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and threatens to end federal funding for exhibitions and programs based on racial themes that “divide Americans.”

Bunch’s email to staff stressed that the organization has an imperative to remain nonpartisan.

The Smithsonian Institution asserted its independence Monday evening in a statement that could be read as a rejection of President Trump’s late-May firing of National Portrait Gallery Director Kim Sajet.

The Smithsonian’s statement said the organization’s secretary, Lonnie G. Bunch, “has the support of the Board of Regents in his authority and management of the Smithsonian.” The statement suggested that all personnel decisions will be made by Bunch, not Trump.

The announcement came after a much-anticipated Board of Regents meeting to discuss the fate of Sajet. The Washington Post had reported that Sajet quietly continued to show up for work each day after Trump’s social media post, which said he was firing Sajet for being “a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI.”

The Smithsonian’s statement Monday did not explicitly state that Sajet would remain in her position, and the institution did not respond to a Times question on that subject. But the text of the statement is clear in its intent, beginning: “In 1846, the Smithsonian was established by Congress as an independent entity.”

It continues: “Throughout its history, the Smithsonian has been governed and administered by a Board of Regents and a Secretary. The board is entrusted with the governance and independence of the Institution, and the board appoints a Secretary to manage the Institution.”

The Smithsonian’s move comes shortly after the White House proposed a 12% reduction in funding to the Smithsonian in the 2026 budget — including the elimination of funding for the National Museum of the American Latino, which is in the development stages and aims to open on or near the National Mall; and the Anacostia Community Museum, which opened in 1967 and honors Black culture.

The Smithsonian became a target for Trump beginning March 27, when he issued an executive order titled “Restoring truth and sanity to American history.” That order demanded an end to federal funding for exhibitions and programs based on racial themes that “divide Americans.”

“Once widely respected as a symbol of American excellence and a global icon of cultural achievement, the Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology,” the order read. It also instructed Vice President JD Vance to remove “improper ideology” from the Smithsonian’s 21 museums and the National Zoo in Washington.

The order followed Trump’s ongoing attempts to reshape federal cultural institutions, including his February takeover of the Kennedy Center.

One major difference between the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian: The Kennedy Center’s board is appointed by the president, but the Smithsonian’s board consists of officials representing all three branches of government. Vance is on the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents, as is Chief Justice John G. Roberts.

“Since its inception, the Smithsonian has set out to be a nonpartisan institution,” the statement Monday read. “As the nation’s museum, the Smithsonian must be a welcoming place of knowledge and discovery for all Americans. The Board of Regents is committed to ensuring that the Smithsonian is a beacon of scholarship free from political or partisan influence, and we recognize that our institution can and must do more to further these foundational values.

“To reinforce our nonpartisan stature, the Board of Regents has directed the Secretary to articulate specific expectations to museum directors and staff regarding content in Smithsonian museums, give directors reasonable time to make any needed changes to ensure unbiased content, and to report back to the Board on progress and any needed personnel changes based on success or lack thereof in making the needed changes.”

President Donald Trump announced Friday that he is firing Kim Sajet, the longtime director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, for being “a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI.”

The announcement, made on Truth Social, comes as Trump pushes to remake some of the highest profile national arts institutions so they align with his political agenda. In February, he dismissed much of the Kennedy Center board in order to have himself appointed chairman. In March, he targeted the Smithsonian Institution by issuing an executive order demanding an end to federal funding for exhibitions and programs based on racial themes that “divide Americans.”

The National Portrait Gallery did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. It is unclear, as with many of Trump’s social media decrees, if the organization was expecting the latest action.

Sajet was appointed director in 2013 by Wayne Clough, then the secretary of the Smithsonian. Sajet, the first woman to serve in the role, had come from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, where she was president and chief executive. Sajet, a Dutch national, was born in Nigeria and raised in Australia.

In his Truth Social post, Trump said he was terminating Sajet “upon the request and recommendation of many people.” He said her support of diversity and inclusion was “totally inappropriate for her position.” He promised to name her replacement soon.

The National Portrait Gallery was founded by Congress in 1962 and houses more than 26,000 objects, including portraits of all the nation’s presidents. It shares a building with the Smithsonian American Art Museum and attracts about 1 million visitors a year.

The gallery contains a photo portrait of Trump taken in 2017 by Matt McClain, with a caption that reads, in part, “Impeached twice, on charges of abuse of power and incitement of insurrection after supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, he was acquitted by the Senate in both trials. After losing to Joe Biden in 2020, Trump mounted a historic comeback in the 2024 election. He is the only president aside from Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) to have won a nonconsecutive second term.”