Save Our Signs and Citizen Historians for the Smithsonian Rally to Preserve Public History
Real history isn't always comfortable. And right now, that's exactly why it needs protecting.
Two grassroots initiatives, Save Our Signs and Citizen Historians for the Smithsonian, are demonstrating what happens when everyday citizens refuse to let public history disappear.
Armed with nothing more than smartphones and determination, thousands of volunteers are documenting interpretive signage and exhibits that face removal from National Park Service (NPS) sites and Smithsonian museums.
Save Our Signs launched in response to an executive order directing the Secretary of the Interior to identify National Park signage that "inappropriately disparages Americans past or living." Translation: signs discussing difficult chapters of American history, such as slavery, Indigenous displacement, and civil rights struggles, became targets for review and potential removal.
The SOS initiative invites anyone visiting NPS sites to photograph signage and upload it to the growing community archive at https://sites.google.com/umn.edu/save-our-signs. Think of it as a distributed preservation effort where every park visitor becomes a documentarian.
The numbers tell the story: volunteers have already captured thousands of images from sites nationwide, creating what they call "the People's Archive of National Park Signs." The January 2026 SOS update notes an increase in reports of sign removals, making real-time documentation more urgent than ever.
Citizen Historians for the Smithsonian took direct inspiration from Save Our Signs. When Georgetown University historians Chandra Manning and James Millward learned the Trump administration was demanding Smithsonian reviews to ensure exhibits aligned with directives celebrating "American exceptionalism" while removing "divisive narratives," they sent an email to colleagues asking for help. Within weeks, over 1,500 volunteers mobilized.
The results? In their first seven weeks (as of their latest update), volunteers documented 100% of the current Smithsonian exhibits across 21 museums, the National Zoo, and the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Nearly 50,000 photographs and videos capturing everything from gallery labels to full exhibition layouts have been documented.
They call it a "Crowd to Cloud" effort at https://www.citizenhistorians.org.
What makes these projects remarkable is their fundamental democratization of preservation. No fancy equipment required. No credentials necessary. Just citizens who understand that museums and parks belong to all of us, not to whoever currently holds power.
Both initiatives tackle a truth we in the museum field know well: interpretation matters. How we present history shapes public understanding. When exhibits discuss slavery at Mount Vernon, Indigenous removal policies in various states, or Japanese American incarceration, they're fulfilling the NPS mandate and Smithsonian mission to tell all Americans' stories—not just the comfortable ones.
The projects share practical DNA too. Both rely on volunteer coordination through "captains" who systematically assign documentation tasks. Both emphasize low barriers to entry. Both understand that preservation sometimes means simply bearing witness and creating a record for journalists, researchers, and future generations.
For those of us working in interpretation and exhibit development, these efforts offer both inspiration and warning. They remind us that audiences value honest, complex history enough to fight for it. They also demonstrate how quickly interpretive content can become politicized.
Want to help? Visit a National Park and photograph signage for Save Our Signs. If you're near Washington, D.C., volunteer with Citizen Historians for the Smithsonian . Even if you can't participate directly, both projects need funding and awareness.
Museums and National Parks belong to all of us, not to whoever currently holds power.
Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!
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