Submitted by Emily Arendt

May 6, 2025

At a time when the Trump Administration is quickly altering public interpretations of history and removing references to the past on websites and public spaces, it is vital that historians keep track of what is changing. The Early Republic Tracker is dedicated to documenting instances where the federal government is removing facts and stories essential to the public’s understanding American history from public historical sites, museums, websites, and executive agencies.

Where/When did the changes take place?

• April 2025

What changed?

• The National Endowment for the Humanities terminated $1.5 in grants to ten groups for the collection and digitization of first-person accounts of Native Americans who attended Indian boarding schools, operated or funded by the federal government, from 1819-1969.

Why does the change matter?

• The loss of this funding will inhibit the continuation of these projects, which are vital for making visible and accessible the history of federal Indian Boarding Schools and their impact on generations of Indigenous people.

Evidence of change?

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/04/16/national-endowment-humanities-indian-boarding-schools/
• https://www.nativenewsonline.net/opinion/trump-cuts-to-neh-funding-threaten-to-erase-native-boarding-school-history

Additional sources?

• See the National Humanities Alliance’s action alert page for more on the wide ranging cuts in NEH grants (as well as a bevy of advocacy resources): https://nhalliance.org/federal-funding/savetheneh/#casemaking-resources