Submitted by Shannan Mason

February 10, 2026

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?

Save Our Signs is a documentary site developed to track changes to NPS signage at: https://sites.google.com/umn.edu/save-our-signs/home. SOS is a part of the ‘Data Rescue Project’ and ‘Safeguarding Resources and Culture’ initiative to save and document extant National Park Service signs and those removed following Executive Order 14253, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” containing content about slavery, Indigenous history, climate change, and other perceived “negative” aspects of the American past.

What changed?

The public, librarians, and historians are working to collaboratively document more than 10,000 NPS signs to prevent the loss of factual interpretive materials that the government ordered taken down under the “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” mandate. They maintain:

Archive of NPS signage at https://sos-sandbox.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sos-public-viewer/viewer.html

An interactive map allowing users to view undocumented locations at https://sites.google.com/umn.edu/save-our-signs/where-do-we-still-need-photos

Explanation on how to contribute at https://umn.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4VKNSNsfJuIVOIu

Why does the change matter?

SOS argues their significance lies in maintaining documentation and access to stories conveyed in the nation’s “largest outdoor classroom.”

Evidence of change?

Save our signs maintains a publicly accessible spreadsheet documenting changes: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ulzIcpjpyTKLa52DClUkUlcazJPdAryK0B0oKmA9TF8/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Additional sources?

On the role of the parks as “classroom” and longterm issues of interpretation: Anne Mitchell Whisnant, Marla R. Miller, Gary B. Nash, and David Thelen, Imperiled Promise: The State of History in the National Park Service (Organization of American Historians, 2011), https://oah.org/site/assets/documents/Imperiled_Promise.pdf.

More on the Data Rescue Project: https://www.datarescueproject.org/

Safeguarding Research and Culture: https://safeguar.de/