The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History comes with a parental advisory warning, the museum’s director told Congress on Wednesday, as she spent a second day struggling to defend a sexually charged exhibit that showed what one congresswoman called a “crotch harness.”
Anthea Hartig, the director, said her museum’s policy requires all children under 18 to be accompanied by an adult, and they urge those adults to make sure the content is suitable for their children before going through exhibits.
Ms. Hartig said the “gay liberation” exhibit that’s drawn so much scrutiny was closed years ago, but did have a parental warning attached.
That didn’t sit right with Rep. Mary Miller, who said Ms. Hartig herself, in a welcome video, specifically invited children to attend the exhibit.
“You chose to display the fetish attire of a very small subset of Americans with weird sexual proclivities, and you welcomed children to the exhibit,” the Illinois Republican said.
She peppered Ms. Hartig with questions.
“What is a crotch harness? You chose to make a display of it,” she said.
Ms. Hartig defended the exhibit as “small” and described the attire in question as a “two-piece garment.”
“All the people who came by that display case, no one complained,” she said.
The House Administration Committee, which oversees the Smithsonian, was holding a hearing to examine what Republicans have described as the American history museum’s woke-washing of U.S. history, elevating trendy liberal causes in its exhibits while relegating more traditional stories such as the country’s founders to dry tellings.
Wednesday’s hearing was the second in a row, following a similar one with Ms. Hartig in the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday.
Ms. Hartig, who took the reins at the museum in 2019, was pummeled with questions for which she had no answers — or refused to give them.
She refused to explain her hundreds of political contributions, distanced herself from a “toolkit” that mocked historians’ objectivity as a tool of White supremacy, and had no answer when asked why her museum, while telling other stories, doesn’t tackle the 50 million abortions that have occurred since 1973’s Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision.
“I’m not here at this hearing to discuss that,” Ms. Hartig told lawmakers.
She also wouldn’t say whether she thought it was appropriate for her gift shop to sell “Latina Power” items, and she declined multiple invitations to say what a woman is.
“We strive to represent, and not categorize, all Americans,” Ms. Hartig said.
Ms. Hartig’s pay is $370,000 — though she stressed to lawmakers the money comes from an endowment, not federal tax money.
But the bulk of the Smithsonian’s money is from taxpayers, and Republicans said it’s being misused.
“You strive to represent queer pedophiles, indoctrination, grooming of kids at an American History Museum, and it sounds like you’re proud of it,” said Rep. Nancy Mace, South Carolina Republican. “You’re putting this kind of crap in front of kids sexualizes them and makes them more vulnerable to people that want to rape them or abuse them.”
Rep. Brandon Gill, Texas Republican, challenged Ms. Hartig over her museum’s promotion of a “toolkit” that labels objectivity as a tool of White supremacy.
He also asked her to explain an exhibit that said Micky Mouse was derived from “vestiges of longstanding traditions of blackface minstrelsy.”
“It has certain obvious racial overtones that have been well-documented,” Ms. Hartig said. “It’s not for me to determine what’s problematic; it’s for me to determine what’s accurate.”
But she tried to separate herself from the toolkit, saying it wasn’t one they developed but acknowledged it was “used as a reference” by her museum in 2019 and 2020.
The hearings came after a White House report earlier this year accused the museum of becoming a tool for liberal indoctrination.
Republicans repeatedly questioned why the museum seemed to downplay founding-era heroes during the 250th mark of the Declaration of Independence.
Ms. Hartig countered that her museum has “dozens” of exhibits with founding-era references, including a display of 368 objects. She said George Washington is mentioned 54 times.
But Jeffrey Anderson, president of the American Main Street Initiative and former professor of government who studied the founding era, said that was misleading. He said the entirety of that founding-era material could fit inside the space used for a current museum exhibit on the “lowrider culture” among Mexican-Americans.
And he said what there is of the founding era is sucked dry, such as the treatment of the Revolutionary War.
“Somehow it doesn’t even mention the crossing of the Delaware, or the winter at Valley Forge — the more colorful aspects, the more stirring aspects, of our history,” Mr. Anderson said.
Ms. Hartig declined to say whether she’d been scolded by Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch, a fellow historian, over some of the exhibits.
“We talk about many things,” she said.
“I’m going to take that as an evasive answer,” replied Rep. Brian Jack, Georgia Republican.
Asked if she’d admit to any mistakes at the museum, Ms. Hartig said she had no “regrets” and acknowledged some “factual errors” that bugged her.
“We’ve been mislabeling a coin in the American presidency exhibit for years,” she said. “We were, of course, slightly embarrassed about that, but we fixed it.”
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