US history museum head says patriotism is at its best when it is ‘not instructed but inspired’

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, July 21 (Reuters) – The director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, which has been under attack from President Donald Trump’s White House, said on Tuesday ​the museum is at its most powerful when patriotism is “not ‌instructed but inspired.”

A White House Domestic Policy Council report accused the museum earlier this month of “thinly veiled anti-Americanism” and “extreme political activism.”

National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig testified before a House of Representatives oversight subcommittee that Americans visiting the museum get ‌to ​see a wide range of U.S. history.

“They find ⁠the inventions that changed the ⁠world and the ordinary Americans who built it. I have watched 10-year-olds with their families stand in front of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ with their hands over their hearts. No one told them to,” she said.

“That ​is the National Museum of American History at its most powerful: patriotism, not instructed, but inspired.”

Trump has targeted U.S. cultural and historical institutions ⁠in a reshaping that civil rights ⁠advocates say could reverse decades of social progress and undermine ​the acknowledgment of critical phases of American history.

His declarations and executive orders ​have led to the dismantling of slavery exhibits, the restoration ‌of Confederate statues, and reviews into the work of museums. Trump says his aim is to remove “anti-American ideology.”

Hartig also said the museum aimed to reflect the country’s diverse voices by adding stories of communities that had previously ⁠been left untold.

“When historians talk about reframing a traditional narrative, we do not mean erasing it. We mean adding the evidence, the voices and the ⁠objects that earlier tellings ‌left out, so that more Americans can see themselves ⁠in the national story,” she added.

Hartig also reiterated sentiments ​expressed ‌previously by Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch in saying ​that the ⁠White House report released on July 4 did not fairly characterize the museum’s work. She added, “There is always room for improvement.”

The 180-year-old Smithsonian, a vast museum and research complex and a premier exhibition space for U.S. history and culture, includes 21 museums and galleries and the National Zoo.

(Reporting by Kanishka ​Singh in Washington)