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National Archives Removes Exhibit With Altered Images of Women's March

Reuters

   WASHINGTON - The U.S. National Archives,home to foundational documents
   such as the Bill of Rights,apologized Saturday for altering images
   critical of PresidentDonald Trump at an exhibit on women's fight for
   voting rightsand said it had removed the display.

   The entrance to the Washington exhibit had featuredinterlaced
   photographs of a 1913 women'ssuffrage march and theWomen's March that
   took place on January21, 2017, each visiblefrom a different angle. In
   the 2017 photograph, the word "Trump"had been blurred in at least two
   signs carried by demonstrators,including one that originally read "God
   Hates Trump."

   The word "vagina" and other anatomical references were alsoobscured.

   No repeat pledged

   "Weapologize, andwill immediately start a thorough reviewof our exhibit
   policies and procedures so that this does nothappen again," thearchives
   said in statement.

   The photoediting was first reported by The Washington Poston Friday and
   witnessed by a Reuters reporter on Saturday at thesame time as
   demonstrators attending this year's Women's Marchstrolled through
   downtown Washington in the cold and drizzle.

   The Post reported Friday that thearchives had said in astatement last
   week that as a nonpartisan agency it had alteredthe image "so as not to
   engage in current politicalcontroversy."

   Roughly an hour after Reuters witnessed the altered image,however,
   thearchives issued a public apology in which it saidit had removed the
   display and would replace it as soon aspossible with one that uses the
   unaltered image.

   "We made a mistake. As the National Archives of the UnitedStates, we
   are and have always been completely committed topreserving our archival
   holdings, without alteration," it said.

   Along with its popular Washington museum,which includesexhibits of
   founding documents, the agency preserves governmentrecords and oversees
   research centers and presidential librariesin dozens of locations
   across the United States.

   "Public access to government records strengthens democracyby allowing
   Americans to claim their rights of citizenship, holdtheir government
   accountable and understand their history," itsmission statement reads.

   Not easy to spot

   The altered 2017 image was easy to miss, visible only fromthe side of
   the display at an angle of around 45 degrees. Fromthe front, only the
   1913 suffrage march--part of the movementthat led to women winning the
   vote in 1920--was visible.

   Trump has been criticized for his behavior toward women,including for
   taped comments that surfaced in 2016 in which hecan be heard bragging
   about groping and having sex with women.

   At the time, Trump dismissed the tape as locker room banter.

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