National Archives Apologizes for Alteration of Women's March Image
Press Release · Saturday, January 18, 2020

Washington, DC

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This photo shows how images from the 1913 and 2017 Women's Marches were displayed as a promotional graphic in the elevator lobby outside the entrance to the Rightfully Hers exhibit at the National Archives in Washington, DC. The image was removed January 18, 2020 and will be replaced. National Archives Photo by John Valceanu.

We made a mistake. 

As the National Archives of the United States, we are and have always been completely committed to preserving our archival holdings, without alteration.    

In an elevator lobby promotional display for our current exhibit on the 19th Amendment, we obscured some words on protest signs in a photo of the 2017 Women’s March. This photo is not an archival record held by the National Archives, but one we licensed to use as a promotional graphic. Nonetheless, we were wrong to alter the image.

We have removed the current display and will replace it as soon as possible with one that uses the unaltered image.

We apologize, and will immediately start a thorough review of our exhibit policies and procedures so that this does not happen again.