Smithsonian Closes Museums as Shutdown Stretches On

Smithsonian Closes Museums as Shutdown Stretches On

The Smithsonian on October 12 closed all twenty-one of the museums operating under its auspices as the US government shutdown begun on October 1 continued to draw on. The organization also shuttered its fourteen education and research centers and the National Zoo, which it runs. Among the institutions temporarily darkened while Republicans and Democrats wrestle over health care amendments to the federal spending bill are the American Art Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the National Museum of African Art, the National Museum of Asian Art, and the National Portrait Gallery, all in Washington, DC, as well as the National Museum of the American Indian and the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum in New York.

“We will update our operating status as soon as the situation is resolved,” read a statement on the Smithsonian’swebsite. “We do not plan to update social media other than to inform you of changes to our operating status. While our doors are closed, Smithsonian digital resources continue to be available atsi.edu.”

The Smithsonian, an independent institution established by an act of Congress in 1846, receives about 60 percent of its funding from the federal government: It had relied on money from the previous year to remain open eleven days past the shutdown’s start. Most of the Smithsonian’s museums are free to the public and together attract millions of visitors annually. The institution has been targeted by the administration of President Donald Trump, which has castigated it for having “come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology,” with Trump pronouncing himself especially displeased over its mention of “how bad slavery was.” The White House will review Smithsonian museums’ exhibitions ahead of the United States’ 250th anniversary next year to ensure that they are “patriotic.”