Speakers: Elaine Heumann Gurian, Gretchen Jennings, Chandra Manning, and Max van Balgooy.

As museums face growing political pressure over how American history is told, Zakros InterArts convenes a special Bunker Fridays: Museum Edition in response to the White House report Saving America’s Story and its critique of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

This informal town hall asks what is at stake when historical complexity is recast as ideology, and when national museums are pressured to offer a narrower, simpler, more politically convenient version of the past.

Hosted by Phyllis Hecht, the conversation will include leading museum, cultural, and history voices: Elaine Heumann Gurian, Gretchen Jennings, Chandra Manning, and Max van Balgooy.

Together, we will consider what museums owe to history, communities, visitors, students, professionals, and democracy — and how museum workers, educators, citizen historians, trustees, and concerned members of the public can speak up now for a fuller, more honest public history.

This will be a participatory conversation, not a formal panel. Audience members are invited to listen, reflect, ask questions, and help think through what response and action may be needed.

For participant bios, additional resources, and more information, visit the event page.

Bunker Fridays: Museum Edition. History Under Siege!