The Smithsonian museums named in the White House review

On August 12, 2025 the White House sent Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III a letter announcing an internal review of exhibitions and materials under Executive Order 14253, and it named the museums it would start with. The letter asked each one to designate a primary point of contact, hand over materials including online content and 250th Anniversary programming, and it flagged "Narrative Standards" and a Phase II covering further museums. These are the buildings on that list, all of them free to enter and all of them working while the review runs. Six of the eight are here; the National Museum of the American Indian and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden are still to come.

Places in this collection

  • National Portrait Gallery — Named seventh in the letter, immediately before the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden closed the list of eight. It shares a building wi…
  • Smithsonian American Art Museum — Sixth on the list of museums the White House said its review would focus on initially. The letter asks for materials to be provided to its…
  • National Air and Space Museum — Listed fifth among the museums selected for the first round of review announced in the August 12, 2025 letter to the Smithsonian. Like the…
  • National Museum of African American History and Culture — One of the two museums the letter's authors say they toured with Secretary Bunch shortly before writing, and third on the list selected for…
  • National Museum of Natural History — Named second on the list of museums the review would begin with, ahead of an unspecified Phase II covering additional Smithsonian museums.…
  • National Museum of American History — The letter opens by thanking Secretary Bunch for a tour of this museum and of the National Museum of African American History and Culture,…

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