Smithsonian Museum Director Defends Exhibits at House Hearing
Anthea Hartig, director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, defended the museum’s scholarship and independence during a contentious House hearing on July 21, 2026.
Republican lawmakers questioned the museum’s treatment of race, class, gender and sexuality, along with its educational materials and interpretive approach. Hartig rejected the White House’s characterization of the museum as ideologically driven and said its work is governed by standards of scholarship, accuracy, independence and nonpartisanship.
What the hearing was
The hearing, titled “Rewriting American History: Examining the Smithsonian’s Efforts to Reshape the Past,” was held in Rayburn House Office Building Room 2154 by the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency.
Hartig testified alongside Mike Gonzalez of the Heritage Foundation, Matthew Spalding of Hillsdale College and David Blight of Yale University, who appeared as the minority witness. The committee majority said it was examining whether the National Museum of American History and the broader Smithsonian Institution had promoted a politicized account of U.S. history.
The White House report behind the scrutiny
The hearing followed a July 4 report from the White House Domestic Policy Council titled Saving America’s Story. The report was issued as part of the administration’s review of the Smithsonian and argued that the National Museum of American History presented U.S. history through what it described as an ideological lens.
Those claims are positions advanced by the White House report and the committee majority, not findings independently established by the hearing itself. The committee’s wrap-up repeated allegations that museum programming and exhibits placed too much emphasis on race, class, gender and sexuality while giving too little attention to national achievement and founding-era history.
Hartig’s defense
Hartig said the report did not fairly or accurately characterize the museum’s work. She said that reframing a traditional narrative does not mean erasing it, but adding evidence, voices and objects that earlier accounts left out.
She also said the museum does not take sides in political debates and that visitors should be able to encounter evidence of American life and draw their own conclusions. The museum’s current “In Pursuit of Life, Liberty & Happiness” exhibition opened May 14, 2026, and presents 250 objects across the museum’s three public floors as part of the nation’s 250th-anniversary observance.
Exhibits and materials questioned
Some of the sharpest exchanges focused on the former Girlhood (It’s Complicated) exhibition. The exhibit ran from 2020 through 2023 and included a diary from a 13-year-old exploring issues including gender identity. Reporting by The Associated Press and The Washington Post said the display included a label stating that it was not designed for children.
Because the exhibition closed in 2023, it should not be confused with a current display at the museum. Lawmakers also questioned the Entertainment Nation display, references to the MASS Action Toolkit, material involving race and sexuality, and the museum’s treatment of historical subjects such as Mickey Mouse and blackface minstrelsy.
Hartig said the museum did not create the toolkit and emphasized that its goal was accuracy rather than promoting an ideology. The committee’s account of the exchanges includes competing assertions about how the toolkit was used and who contributed to it.
What Congress can do next
A congressional hearing can create oversight pressure, request documents and testimony, and influence future legislation or funding decisions. It does not, by itself, order a museum to remove an exhibit or dismiss a director.
The Smithsonian is an independent federal trust instrumentality governed by a Board of Regents. Congress can affect the institution through authorizing and appropriations decisions and oversight, while the White House can apply political pressure and issue policy directives. Those powers are distinct from directly controlling the museum’s day-to-day exhibitions or personnel.
As of August 3, 2026, the reviewed record shows no hearing-driven final vote changing Smithsonian funding, no order removing an exhibit, no confirmed removal of Hartig and no documented change to admission or visitor access. The hearing’s political consequences remain unresolved.
What visitors should watch
For visitors, there is no documented immediate change to exhibitions, programming or access in the reviewed record. The museum’s current anniversary presentation remains part of the public program described by the National Museum of American History.
The next developments could include additional committee requests, congressional funding language, actions by the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents, responses from museum leadership or further White House or court action.
The dispute therefore concerns more than individual exhibits. It also raises questions about how a nationally funded cultural institution interprets American history, how Congress exercises oversight and how museum independence is maintained when political pressure intensifies.
Sources
- House Oversight hearing record
- White House Domestic Policy Council report
- Associated Press report
- National Museum of American History exhibition record
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