On March 14, 2025 President Donald Trump issued an executive order targeting the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) among other entities. IMLS is an independent federal agency that provides library grants, museum grants, policy development, and research.
New York State museums and libraries are reacting to Trump’s order that “the non-statutory components and functions of the following governmental entities shall be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, and such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.”
In a message to supporters, the Iroquois Museum said “over the last 45 years IMLS has been a substantial source of funding for the Museum and losing the opportunity to apply for this and other federal programs will have a serious negative effect on our public programs and fiscal stability. Our ability to make up for the loss of federal and/or state funding through private donations and earned income will be extremely difficult.”
The Museum has received $70,000 from IMLS since 2022 they said, encouraging supporters to contact the congressional representatives.
The Vermont Historical Society (VHS) is also concerned, noting that they currently has two active grants with IMLS and is hoping they will be continued to be honored.
“Loss of the IMLS will severely impact the support provided to Vermont’s local libraries through the Vermont Department of Libraries,” VHS said in an announcement to supporters.
“History is housed in libraries. Libraries hold the books that tell our stories, they have rich histories that are intertwined with our towns and villages, and often the local historical society is housed right in the library,” they said.
“Local libraries are community hubs, where children congregate after school and older Vermonters access resources. Many rely heavily upon the programs and grants that IMLS funds. Now and in the coming months, our libraries will need our support.”
The New York State Library relies on $8.1 million in IMLS funding to support its libraries.
Established in 1996, IMLS is the main source of federal support for libraries and museums within the United States, having the mission to “advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grant-making, research, and policy development.”
IMLS is currently undertaking the first ever National Museum Survey dedicated to understanding the scope and scale of museums’ presence and reach within the United States. There is no word on whether that will be completed.
The order says they have until Friday to comply.
“During his first term, Trump repeatedly sought to slash funding to or completely shutter the IMLS, NEA and NEH, though the agencies’ activities and funding levels remained largely unchanged,” The Art Newspaper reported this week.”
“While the NEA and NEH were not named in Trump’s executive order on Friday, both are currently without leaders. In fact, just two days earlier the chair of the NEH, Shelly C. Lowe, the first Native American to lead the agency, stepped down ‘at the direction of President Trump.’
“Last month, Trump purged the board of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts of all its Biden-era members, installed 14 new board members including himself and Usha Vance, the wife of Vice President J.D. Vance, and was promptly elected board chair
“Earlier this month, drag performers held a protest rally at the Kennedy Center and Vance was booed by other audience members when he attended a National Symphony performance there.”
You can read the IMLS Executive Order here.
The Executive Branch does not have the authority to dismantle the government. It does not have the authority to purge government employees nor erase our history. Libraries and museums are essential to informing who we were, who we are and who we hope to be. The Heritage Foundation is behind much of what makes up Trump’s second administration. They produced, with the help of many of Trump’s first administration’s staff, Project 2025, the plan for what is now being implemented. The current president of the Heritage Foundation is Kevin D. Roberts who announced the “election was stolen” months before it took place. The Office of Management and Budget, in the Executive Office, which produces the president’s budgets, is directed by Russell Thurlow Vought, one of the writers of Project 2025. Make good use of your local libraries, check out a book by Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig. Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created an Illusion of Success. New York: Penguin Press. 2024. They are New York Times investigative journalists. A retired librarian, my favorite quote is, “Trust a Librarian: the truth is out there, and it is beautiful.” Fight Back, support our libraries and museums.
Trump the criminal wants to curtail knowledge, dumb us down and make us subservient to his destruction of our Democracy and our very nation.