Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch sent a letter to the Trump administration responding to a list of demands the White House presented last month as it attempts to assert control over the institution.
Bunch’s direct response to the White House comes more than three weeks after the administration attempted to compel the museum and research network to turn over curatorial materials, plans for the United States’s 250th anniversary, visitor experience surveys, and other materials. Bunch met privately with President Trump last week.
Bunch’s response, first reported by the New York Times, was not made public. A Smithsonian spokesperson reached by Hyperallergic confirmed the letter was sent but declined to share a copy or comment on its contents.
The Trump administration has sought to gut the Smithsonian of what it calls “divisive” narratives and “race-centered ideology” and install “unifying, historically accurate, and constructive descriptions.” In a tirade on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump has criticized the Smithsonian for focusing too much on “how bad slavery was,” among other things. Last month, the White House notified the institution that it would conduct a review of the Smithsonian and make “content corrections.”
Based on an email shared by Bunch with Smithsonian staff explaining what he told the president, the Times reported that the secretary defended the institution’s independence, but vowed to share certain information with the Trump administration. Bunch, in the description of his letter, said that the institution is already conducting its own review of content to ensure it is “nonpartisan and factual.” The Smithsonian would conduct this review, not the White House, Bunch reportedly said in the letter.
“Our own review of content to ensure our programming is nonpartisan and factual is ongoing, and it is consistent with our authority over our programming and content,” the letter said, according to the Times.
It is unclear, though, whether Bunch outright rejected Trump’s authority to issue “content corrections” on the independent institution. It is also unclear what information Bunch offered to share with the White House, and what say, if any, the institution would have in the Smithsonian-led process. If the Smithsonian doesn’t comply with the White House’s review, it could jeopardize its federal funding, which accounts for about 62% of its annual budget. The institution has yet to make a public statement addressing the White House’s attempted audit of its targeting of specific items at the Smithsonian.