HOW THE SMITHSONIAN COULD FALL; The Atlantic, July 16, 2026

 Kelsey Ables, Photographs by Caroline Gutman, The Atlantic ; HOW THE SMITHSONIAN COULD FALL

"The Trump administration wants to control the Smithsonian, but it won’t be so easy."

Upstate public library one of few to house rare book collection; Spectrum News 1, July 7, 2026

 VIKTORIA HALLIKAAR , Spectrum News 1; Upstate public library one of few to house rare book collection

"The resources you can find at public libraries seem to be ever-growing. One collection is keeping an eye on the future by preserving the past.

Deep in the stacks of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library is a massive collection of books.

“We're contemporary. We're of the moment,” explained Heather Gring, the rare book curator for Buffalo & Erie County Public Library.

But these books aren’t your standard page-turners.

“The oldest thing in our collection is 4,000 years old, and the most contemporary is local press that has been made this year,” said Gring.

Spectrum News 1 was given a rare look inside the rare book vaults.

“The difference between an old book and a rare book is who wants to buy it,” Gring explained.

Cameras, locks and key codes are trying to not repeat the mistakes of the past.

“This collection is worth, collectively, millions of dollars,” said Gring. "The way the Rare Books department was even started was because of a theft in the 1930s. [...] They worked with the FBI, and they did successfully retrieve almost all of the books that had been stolen.”

Keeping these treasures safe doesn’t mean keeping them hidden. This is one of only about 25 rare book departments in the country to be housed in a public library."

AI helps read papyrus scroll burnt to crisp during Vesuvius eruption; The Guardian, June 24, 2026

 Ian Sample, The Guardian; AI helps read papyrus scroll burnt to crisp during Vesuvius eruption

[Kip Currier: How exciting to learn from this 6/24/26 Guardian article that AI has uncovered more text from an ancient scroll that was charred by Mount Vesuvius's eruption in 79 AD.

I included in my Ethics, Information, and Technology book a "benefits of AI" example from a couple of years ago of just a few words that had been gleaned by AI from one of these blackened scrolls. Now the world has access to "20 columns of previously hidden text covering more than a metre of charred papyrus without physically unrolling the scroll."

This example offers another persuasive argument, too, for the importance of preserving archival artifacts, even if the technologies of the time present roadblocks to discovery and new knowledge. Thankfully, these charred, seemingly impenetrable scrolls were preserved until emerging technologies like AI are now making new discoveries a reality.] 

"The surviving part of an ancient scroll that was burnt to a crisp when Mount Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago has been virtually unwrapped and read with help from artificial intelligence.

Researchers uncovered 20 columns of previously hidden text covering more than a metre of charred papyrus without physically unrolling the scroll. The work discusses stoic philosophy on ethics, art and human behaviour and dates to the second or late-third century BC."

How Teaching A.I. to Speak Cajun Can Help Save a Language; The New York Times, June 27, 2026

Jonathan Abrams, The New York Times; How Teaching A.I. to Speak Cajun Can Help Save a Language

By feeding centuries-old nursery rhymes and folklore recordings into their own model, linguists in Louisiana hope to help a community control its digital destiny.

"Louisiana French, the oral dialect of which Balfa was a cultural guardian, is part of the Bayou’s societal DNA, a link to its history, music and identity. Today, Caffery described the language as struggling and endangered, a notion reinforced by Alexa’s overlooking Balfa.

In response, Caffery assembled a small team at the center to train its own language learning model in automatic speech recognition for Louisiana French, drawing from a trove of historical artifacts and interviews.

Over the months, as the learning language model is trained on bits of the language — such as an old-age French nursery rhyme — it brings centuries-old dialect closer into the digital age."

Mozart manuscript discovered at French National Library to be performed for the first time; Le Monde, June 19, 2026

  Marie-Aude Roux, Le Monde; Mozart manuscript discovered at French National Library to be performed for the first time

The music notebook, found in the archives, dates from the composer's final stay in Paris, in 1778. The seven short pieces for flute and harp it contains will be broadcast for the first time ever on June 22 on France Musique radio.

"The seven short pieces for flute and harp are part of an autograph manuscript by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, recently rediscovered in the music department of the French National Library (BNF). This is a major discovery, as the genius of the Austrian composer continues to shine at the heart of European culture."

A bonanza for fans of the natural world: the digital library sharing 64m pages of scientific knowledge with everyone; The Guardian, June 18, 2026

Donna Ferguson, The Guardian; A bonanza for fans of the natural world: the digital library sharing 64m pages of scientific knowledge with everyone

"Over the past 20 years, more than 64m pages have been made freely available through the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) – a digital treasure trove for fans of the natural world. More than 680 museums, universities, libraries and scientific institutions from China, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand to Europe, Africa, Mexico, Canada and the US, have contributed to the library.

This week, a report from Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG), Kew revealed the crucial role digitisation is playing in “transforming our ability to understand and respond to the climate and biodiversity crises”, but it was the creation of the BHL 20 years ago that first demonstrated how bringing centuries of scientific knowledge online can unlock transformative discoveries and insights about the natural world.

David Iggulden, who chairs the BHL executive committee alongside his job as head of data and digital, library and archives at RBG Kew, describes the library as an invaluable and “absolutely essential” resource for scientists in the field. But it is also used by scientific researchers, environmental historians, educators, art historians, artists, citizen scientists and members of the public who – like Iggulden – simply enjoy browsing its contents on a rainy weekend.

“I just get caught up in it sometimes, looking at the various collections,” he says. “I think it’s amazing that we can explore such a vast array of different collections from very different institutions.”

As well as published biodiversity literature and journals, there are letters, illustrations, climate records, field diaries, ecosystem profiles, distribution records and manuscripts containing the original collecting stories of a particular species or detailing voyages of discovery."

Draft of King’s ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ found at Virginia seminary archives; Episcopal News Service, June 5, 2026

 Adelle M. Banks , Episcopal News Service; Draft of King’s ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ found at Virginia seminary archives

[Kip Currier: The recent finding of a draft of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "Letter from Birmingham Jail", within a collection of archived papers at Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), is a persuasive and tangible reminder of the importance of preserving and providing access to historical and archival records. It's also a compelling example of the need for dedicated stewards of information with expertise and a commitment to fiduciary shepherding of the world's knowledge and human culture.

As both a long-time space exploration aficionado and author of the 2025 Bloomsbury book Ethics, Information, and Technology -- which examines issues like supporting access to information and preserving historical records -- I can't help but recall the Trump 2.0 administration's decision to close NASA's research library at the Goddard Space Flight Center in January 2026. As reported in a New York Times article (December 31, 2025):

The Trump administration is closing NASA’s largest research library on Friday, a facility that houses tens of thousands of books, documents and journals — many of them not digitized or available anywhere else.

Jacob Richmond, a NASA spokesman, said the agency would review the library holdings over the next 60 days and some material would be stored in a government warehouse while the rest would be tossed away.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/climate/nasa-goddard-library-closing.html

What items were "tossed away" that might someday have yielded new insights and discoveries? What library holdings were/are "stored in a government warehouse" that might one day reveal as-yet-unknown knowledge and enable new inventions and innovations?

Libraries, archives, and museums are vital societal organizations for advancing and safeguarding knowledge, promoting informed citizenries, and providing access to information -- now and for generations to come.

Works of fiction, too, have long recognized the critical need and value of libraries, archives, and museums. As just one example, watch/rewatch Rogue One (2016) -- perhaps the best Star Wars movie ever (and my own favorite) -- to see [spoiler alert] how libraries/archives set the stage for eventually defeating Darth Vader and the evil Empire in later films.]

[Excerpt from Draft of King’s ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ found at Virginia seminary archives. (June 5, 2026). Episcopal News Service.]

"Within a red binder, each of its typewritten pages encased in plastic sleeves, sits an early draft of the famous letter written by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as he was held in a jail in Birmingham, Alabama.

Ten pages that once were considered for the 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail” were discovered in March by a graduate student concluding an internship by examining papers donated to the African American Episcopal Historical Collection, a joint venture of the Virginia Theological Seminary and the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church.

The draft was found in the papers of Bishop John M. Burgess, the first African American to serve as an Episcopal diocesan bishop, and his wife, Esther. The papers, donated by the daughters of the couple that was active in the Civil Rights Movement, are housed at the seminary near Washington, D.C.

“I screamed, but I also wept,” said Riley Temple, the collection’s growth specialist, of seeing the letter, with its yellowed pages, for the first time.

He views it as a part of the “big year” of 1963 that featured a list of changes and challenges, including the desegregation of the University of Alabama, the March on Washington and the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham."

Book Surfaces 120 Years After a San Francisco Library Lost Almost Everything; The New York Times, June 1, 2026

 Adeel Hassan, The New York Times; Book Surfaces 120 Years After a San Francisco Library Lost Almost Everything;

"Randall Tarpey-Schwed, a book collector and library member, found the book on a website that deals in, among other things, rare books and collectibles. How it reached that previous owner is unknown.

Mr. Tarpey-Schwed said he was curious whether any books had survived the 1906 earthquake and fires, by virtue of having been checked out.

“There was no place to return the book, at least for a while, or to reapply Gertrude Stein’s famous quote, there was no ‘there there’ to return the book to,” he said.

“The book is not worth much monetarily,” Mr. Tarpey-Schwed said. “It is, after all, a soot-stained book with a lot of old library stamps. But as a survivor, it is priceless, and I knew immediately I wanted to return it to the library.”

The book’s author, Bret Harte, might have been a library member, Mr. Cooper said. Many writers and artists have been members, he said, but full membership records from before the earthquake are gone."

White House must comply with Presidential Records Act, judge rules; Politico, May 20, 2026

  JOSH GERSTEIN, Politico; White House must comply with Presidential Records Act, judge rules

"A federal judge has ordered aides to President Donald Trump to continue to observe the requirements of the Presidential Records Act, despite a Justice Department opinion that found the law unconstitutionally intrudes on presidential power.

In a ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge John Bates concluded that the 1978 statute is likely constitutional and granted a preliminary injunction that essentially nullifies the opinion issued last month by DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel."

‘Living library’: inside the marine biobanks racing to protect ocean species from extinction; The Guardian, May 4, 2026

 Stephanie Convery and Petra Stock, The Guardian; ‘Living library’: inside the marine biobanks racing to protect ocean species from extinction

"These fridges are part of what the university calls its “living library”: a biobank, or long-term storage for at-risk marine life forms. Biobanks act as insurance policies against species extinction, and as research hubs for scientists studying species genetics, growth and resilience in the age of environmental crisis."

Lost copy of seventh-century poem in Old English discovered at Rome library; The Guardian, April 29, 2026

 Rory Carroll , The Guardian; Lost copy of seventh-century poem in Old English discovered at Rome library

"“This discovery is a testament to the power of libraries to facilitate new research by digitising their collections and making them freely available online,” she said.

Andrea Cappa, head of manuscripts and rare books at the Rome library, said the institution was digitising holdings from Italy’s National Centre for the Study of the Manuscript, which will give researchers access to more than 40m images.

Riccardo Fangarezzi, head of archives at the abbey in Nonantola, said he looked forward to further discoveries. “The present times may be rather dark, yet such intellectual contributions are genuine rays of sunlight: the continent is less isolated,” he said.

The poet Paul Muldoon translated Caedmon’s Hymn into contemporary English in a 2016 anthology of British poetry. The opening lines read:

“Now we must praise to the skies, the Keeper of the heavenly kingdom,

The might of the Measurer, all he has in mind,

The work of the Father of Glory, of all manner of marvel.”"

(Some of) The newest stuff at the Library!; Library of Congress Blogs, April 28, 2026

 Neely Tucker, Library of Congress Blogs; (Some of) The newest stuff at the Library!

"Walk into the Library’s annual showcase of new acquisitions and the question always hits you right in the face: Where to start?

What about with this slim copy of Silver Surfer No. 1, the origin story of Marvel Comics’ “Sentinel of the Spaceways,” from the groovy year of 1968? How about this massive law book that’s more than 500 years old? The “Tombstone Edition” of a Philadelphia newspaper from 1765, which documented and amplified the American Colonies loathing of the Stamp Act and presaged the American Revolution?

There’s never really a wrong place to start. This year’s two-hour show-and-tell, held last week, brought hundreds of staffers and guests to look over intriguing displays of the Library’s recently acquired treasures, items spanning the nation, the globe and centuries of time. Many added to already impressive collections of historic figures...

It was a crowded, noisy, upbeat afternoon of discovery and explanation. Conversations buzzed and overlapped; staff experts and curious viewers leaned over display tables from opposite sides, heads together, talking loudly to be heard, gazing down at maps, manuscripts, records, artifacts and things you couldn’t have known existed."

White House Allowed Officials’ Text Messages to Be Deleted, Lawsuit Says; The New York Times, April 24, 2026

 Minho Kim, The New York Times; White House Allowed Officials’ Text Messages to Be Deleted, Lawsuit Says

Two watchdogs say internal White House guidance that text messages need not be preserved unless “they are the sole record of official decision-making” contradicted the law.

"Two government watchdogs sued President Trump and the White House on Friday over internal guidance that instructed that some text messages exchanged between officials could be deleted, despite a law generally mandating the preservation of presidential records.

The watchdogs, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the Freedom of the Press Foundation, also asked a federal judge to overrule a separate but related Justice Department memo, which declared unconstitutional a longstanding federal law requiring safeguarding of presidents’ records, including text messages. The White House guidance cited the memo.

Their lawsuit comes amid a torrent of accusations that the Trump administration has disregarded record-keeping and document disclosure required by law, even as the president and his officials have sought to transform the government and push the legal bounds of their power. They have displayed a particular willingness to skirt record-keeping requirements on text messages exchanged among top officials.

In their complaint, the two watchdogs said the “deficient instructions” from the White House would “result in the irreparable loss or destruction” of presidential records."

Exclusive: Trump's DOJ says he's not required to turn over official records; Axios, April 1, 2026

 Alex Isenstadt , Axios; Exclusive: Trump's DOJ says he's not required to turn over official records

[Kip Currier: This is an appalling anti-democratic determination by Trump 2.0's DOJ. The post-Watergate Presidential Records Act of 1978 was enacted through bipartisan legislating, signed into law by President Jimmy Carter, to curb government corruption and promote transparency, in the wake of actions by Pres. Richard M. Nixon and his administration. The Act codifies that presidential records are the property of the federal government, not the President and the Executive Branch, and are public records.

Democratically-elected officials must be accountable to their citizenries. The Presidential Records Act represents a vital means, among others, for holding Presidents and their administrations accountable for their actions by ensuring preservation of and access to their records by present and future generations.]

"President Trump's Justice Department has concluded that a federal law requiring presidential records to be turned over to the government is unconstitutional, a senior White House official tells Axios.

Why it matters: The finding is an indication Trump will be reluctant to give all of his official records to the National Archives at the end of his term, as presidents have done for nearly a half-century under the Presidential Records Act of 1978.

The law, passed in the post-Watergate era as a hedge against government corruption, states that every official record regarding a president's decisions or policies belongs to the U.S. government, not the president."

Exploring the Library of Congress’ National Screening Room: A vast collection of free online films; WTOP News, March 3, 2026

Matt Kaufax |, WTOP News ; Exploring the Library of Congress’ National Screening Room: A vast collection of free online films

"The National Screening Room is an online project of the Library of Congress, spearheaded by the audiovisual conservation operation happening at the library’s Packard Campus in Culpeper, Virginia.

If you click around the website, you’ll find it has a little bit of everything.

You might find classic cartoons like a 1936 short of “Popeye” next to a cut of the Claymation movie “Peter Cottontail” from 1971. Or you’ll stumble upon color footage of World War II from 1945, next to a tape of a Rolling Stones performance from the 1960s. Then, one more scroll of your mouse leads you to an episode of “The Danny Kaye Show” from 1965."

Lost 19th century film by Méliès discovered at the Library; Library of Congress Blogs, February 26, 2026

Neely Tucker, Library of Congress Blogs; Lost 19th century film by Méliès discovered at the Library

"The librarians peeled them apart and gently looked them over, frame by frame.

And there, on one film, was a black star painted onto a pedestal in the center of the screen. The action was of a magician and a robot battling it out in slapstick fashion. It took a bit, but then the gasp of realization: They were looking at “Gugusse and the Automaton,” a long-lost film by the iconic French filmmaker George Méliès at his Star Film company.

The 45-second film, made around 1897, was the first appearance on film of what might be called a robot, which had endeared it to generations of science fiction fans, even if they knew it only by reputation. It had not been seen by anyone in likely more than a century. The find, made last September but now being announced publicly, is a small but important addition to the legacy of world cinema and one of its founders."

State Department will delete X posts from before Trump returned to office; NPR, February 7, 2026

 Shannon Bond, Stephen Fowler, NPR; State Department will delete X posts from before Trump returned to office

"The State Department is removing all posts on its public accounts on the social media platform X made before President Trump returned to office on Jan. 20, 2025.

The posts will be internally archived but will no longer be on public view, the State Department confirmed to NPR. Staff members were told that anyone wanting to see older posts will have to file a Freedom of Information Act request, according to a State Department employee who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation by the Trump administration. That would differ from how the U.S. government typically handles archiving the public online footprint of previous administrations.

The move comes as the Trump administration has removed wide swaths of information from government websites that conflict with the president's views, including environmental and health data and references to women, people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community. The government has also taken down signs at national parks mentioning slavery and references to Trump's impeachments and presidency at the National Portrait Gallery.

The White House has also launched a revisionist history account of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and has replaced the government's coronavirus resource sites with a page titled "Lab Leak: The True Origins of Covid-19."

The removal of State Department X posts from public view appears to be less about ideological differences with past statements and more about control of future messaging. The directive will see the removal of posts from Trump's first term as well as those under then-Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

In response to NPR's questions about the removals, an unnamed State Department spokesperson said the goal "is to limit confusion on U.S government policy and to speak with one voice to advance the President, Secretary, and Administration's goals and messaging. It will preserve history while promoting the present." The spokesperson said the department's X accounts "are one of our most powerful tools for advancing the America First goals and messaging of the President, Secretary, and Administration, both to our fellow Americans and audiences around the world.""

Philadelphia sues US government for removal of slavery-related exhibit; The Guardian, January 23, 2026

 Marina Dunbar , The Guardian; Philadelphia sues US government for removal of slavery-related exhibit

"Philadelphia is taking legal action against the Trump administration following the National Park Service’s decision to dismantle a long-established slavery-related exhibit at Independence National Historical park, which holds the former residence of George Washington.

The city filed its lawsuit in federal court on Thursday, naming the US Department of Interior and its secretary, Doug Burgum, the National Park Service, and its acting director, Jessica Bowron, as defendants. The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring the exhibits to be restored while the case proceeds.

The display stood at the President’s House site, once home to George Washington and John Adams, and included information recognizing people enslaved by Washington, along with a broader chronology of slavery in the US...

The Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, sharply criticized the decision to take down the signs, arguing that Trump “will take any opportunity to rewrite and whitewash our history”

“But he picked the wrong city – and he sure as hell picked the wrong Commonwealth,” Shapiro added in a message posted on X. “We learn from our history in Pennsylvania, even when it’s painful.”...

Congress had encouraged the National Park Service in 2003 to formally acknowledge the enslaved people who lived and worked at the President’s House. The lawsuit states that in 2006, the city and the agency agreed to collaborate on creating an exhibit for the site, which opened in 2010 with a memorial and informational panels focused on slavery.

The removal of the exhibit is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to eliminate cultural content that does not align with his policy agenda."

How the National Park Service Is Deleting American History; The New York Times, January 23, 2026

 Maxine Joselow and Jennifer Schuessler, The New York Times; How the National Park Service Is Deleting American History

[Kip Currier: Trump 2.0's ongoing efforts to censor and erase history and science are appallingly Orwellian, yet also childishly regressive and unevolved.

When this modern Dark Age of willful ignorance and information suppression has passed, the uncomfortable truths, silenced voices, and inescapable facts will need to be restored to our collective historical record and cultural heritage institutions.]

[Excerpt]

"At Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, the Trump administration took down an exhibit on the contradiction between President George Washington’s enslavement of people and the Declaration of Independence’s promise of liberty.

At Muir Woods National Monument in California, the administration dismantled a plaque about how the tallest trees on the planet could help store carbon dioxide and slow the Earth’s dangerous warming.

And at Lowell National Historical Park in Massachusetts, Trump officials ordered the National Park Service to stop showing films about the women and immigrants who once toiled in the city’s textile mills.

Across the country, Park Service workers have started taking down plaques, films and other materials in connection with a directive from President Trump to remove or rewrite content that may “disparage Americans” or promote “corrosive ideology.”"

Trump’s assault on the Smithsonian: ‘The goal is to reframe the entire culture of the US’; The Guardian, January 8, 2026

 Charlotte Higgins , The Guardian; Trump’s assault on the Smithsonian: ‘The goal is to reframe the entire culture of the US’

[Kip Currier: Informative reporting by The Guardian on Trump 2.0 efforts to whitewash and erase centuries of history and culture by imprinting one man's and one movement's views on the Smithsonian museums.

Share this with as many people as possible to raise awareness and promote advocacy for the historical integrity and unfiltered authenticity of museums within the Smithsonian Institution system.]

[Excerpt]

"Lonnie Bunch, in the meantime, is holding a delicate line. On 18 December, a new letter from the White House arrived for him. The Smithsonian had fallen short in providing the information requested on 12 August, it said. “We wish to be assured,” it continued, “that none of the leadership of the Smithsonian museums is confused about the fact that the United States has been among the greatest forces for good in the history of the world. The American people will have no patience for any museum that is diffident about America’s founding or otherwise uncomfortable conveying a positive view of American history.” Then came the threat. “As you may know, funds apportioned for the Smithsonian Institution are only available for use in a manner consistent with Executive Order 14253, ‘Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,’ and the fulfilment of the requests set forth in our August 12, 2025 letter.”

Bunch wrote a note to all his staff the following day, quietly affirming, once more, the organisation’s autonomy. “For nearly 180 years, the Smithsonian has served our country as an independent and nonpartisan institution committed to its mission – the increase and diffusion of knowledge – for all Americans. As we all know, all content, programming, and curatorial decisions are made by the Smithsonian.”

With JD Vance on the board of regents, along with Republican members of Congress, the question hovers: how long will 73-year-old Bunch survive in his position? “Lonnie knows his time is short,” one DC museum director told me. “It’s a question of how he decides to go, and of which hill he chooses to die on.”"