Defend Institutions
In the wake of the Trump Administration's crushing blow to American museums and libraries, we take a closer look at the second lesson from Timothy Snyder's 'On Tyranny.'
I. Maximum Elimination
LAST MONTH THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION delivered a crushing blow to American museums and libraries when it gutted the small federal agency responsible for distributing funds to these institutions nationwide. On Monday, March 31, managers at the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS) informed 77 employees, nearly the entire staff, that they were immediately being placed on paid administrative leave. The news arrived less than three weeks after Trump appointed Keith Sonderling, the deputy secretary of labor, as the acting director of IMLS. In response to his new role, Sonderling announced he would lead IMLS "in lock step with this administration to enhance and foster innovation," referencing the executive order that directed the agency, along with six others, be "eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law." If you’re confused, yes, Sonderling appears to believe that “innovation” is a synonym for “elimination.” Or at least he wants us to believe he will be taking a nuanced approach to these cuts. I guess even political ghouls have to figure out ways to live with themselves.
In a letter, the American Library Association called Sonderling out, warning the acting director not to cut programs required by law. In 2024, IMLS distributed $266.7 million through various grant programs, critical among them the agency’s Grants to States program that supports regional museums and libraries. To contextualize the impact of these sweeping and indiscriminate cuts, this means programs like student field trips, classes for senior citizens, and access to digital services, may either be severely restricted or entirely dissolved. The IMLS is not ceding defeat, but the challenges are great. Most recently, the IMLS Board of Directors demanded answers about the agency’s future. (Related, but a topic for deeper discussion in the near future, is the Trump administration’s openly hostile anti-intellectualism.)
Given the dire situation these institutions face—institutions that, it’s worth reminding, traditionally receive bipartisan support—we turn to lesson two from Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny.
II. Defend Institutions
In the wake of these cuts, Snyder’s second lesson is particularly germane: Defend Institutions. This lesson is framed as follows:
It is institutions that help us to preserve decency. They need our help as well. Do not speak of “our institutions” unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions do not protect themselves. They fall one after the other unless each is defended from the beginning. So choose an institution you care about—a court, a newspaper, a law, a labor union—and take its side.
What stands out most in this lesson, at least for me, is the statement: “Institutions do not protect themselves.” In the decade I spent working at art museums, an experience that had incredible highs and harrowing lows, I learned firsthand about the challenging power dynamics at play behind the scenes. There are so many good people on staff who view their work as stewardship of an institution held in the public trust. These kinds of colleagues are inspiring to work alongside. But there are also leaders, board members, and trustees whose true motives are often questionable, self-serving, or both. For years I’ve worried about the existential threat that museums face from within.1 Today, however, the existential threat comes from a vindictive administration obsessed with sowing chaos.
III. Investing in the Unseen
Museums and libraries can seem like anomalies in a capitalist democracy. These institutions do not produce products that enter a global supply chain, nor do they generate record profits year after year. In fact, most are nonprofits, which means they can be expensive to operate and they often lose money. When they do show a surplus on their ledgers, that money cannot be given to private individuals (i.e., employees). It must be reinvested back into the organization in service of furthering its mission. It also means that these institutions rely on a mix of state and federal funding to support programs and offset operating expenses.
To many, far-right conservative lawmakers among them, this funding may seem like an investment in the unseen. After all, when the takeaway from your trip to the museum or library is a deeper understanding of the Harlem Renaissance or biodiversity or Pop Art or the plight of climate refugees or extinction-level events, it is not easily quantified. There is no physical transaction, no product in hand. But that’s intentional, because these institutions represent a different type of investment—an investment in people.
Museums produce exhibitions that deepen our understanding of the world or challenge our perception of it while rewarding intellectual curiosity. Libraries provide services that enrich our lives through reading, looking, listening, and community. How could these benefits ever be seen as wasteful, inefficient, or signs of bureaucratic bloat? The mission of these institutions is to exercise our minds and emotions while improving our quality of life. In essence, “people over profit,” the inverse of the pro-corporate mindset that Noam Chomsky wrote about in his 1999 book Profit Over People: Neoliberalism and Global Order, is an unspoken but guiding principle of these institutions.
Billionaires looking at museums and libraries—and the arts and culture sector as a whole—through a capitalist lens is precisely the problem we face.
IV. Recommended Reading
“Timothy Snyder reasons with unparalleled clarity, throwing the past and future into sharp relief. He has written the rare kind of book that can be read in one sitting but will keep you coming back to help regain your bearings.” —Masha Gessen
The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. Today, our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the twentieth century. We are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience.
On Tyranny is a call to arms and a guide to resistance, with invaluable ideas for how we can preserve our freedoms in the uncertain years to come.
Disclosure
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A story for another time.