In a new executive order, President Donald Trump promised to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services along with six other government agencies. IMLS provides funding to museums and libraries nationwide, including the Museum of Natural and Cultural History at the University of Oregon. The museum now worries how this will impact their ability to reach the state’s rural communities.
The grants provided by IMLS funded many important projects at the museum like a large-scale renovation in 2010 and more recently the Museum Adventure Traveling Exhibits and the Oregon Culture Keepers Roster.
“They provide the funding, they provide the outreach to move this museum out of Eugene to every corner of the state,” said Todd Braje, the executive director at the museum.
“Every Corner of the State”
With the latter two projects, the museum expanded from their stationary building at the University of Oregon and brought education and resources to rural communities like Nyssa, Sweet Home, and Newport.
The Oregon Culture Keepers Roster helped Oregon Folklife Network keep a roster of traditional artists that people could contact for a show, library event, or classroom. The roster included a diverse array of artists from Native American beadworkers to an Andean musician to a Rwandan embroidery artist.
According to Ann Craig, the Associate Director at the museum, the roster made it easier for Oregonians to search for specific folk artists who would otherwise be hard to find.
“They have access to speakers and folks that are working in the folk life arena,” said Craig. “To be able to present those kinds of programming to areas that don't have access to them.”
Additionally, the Museum Adventures Travelling Exhibit provided educational program materials for libraries and other community organizations in rural Oregon. There were four travelling exhibits on two topics: Oregon’s Dinosaur History and innovations made by First Nations in Oregon to libraries in rural areas.
Mia Jackson, the education manager who oversees the exhibits at the museum, said that IMLS helped make providing educational resources like the exhibits easier.
“[The] Institute of Museum and Library Services helps us to fund those types of services that those communities can't afford to bring to themselves.” said Jackson. “So we are able to bring them out at a much lesser cost to the community because we are funded and supported by institutions like IMLS.”
A future without IMLS and “promoting patriotism”
Braje explained that since the museum is a state museum, they try to reach rural communities in Oregon that might otherwise not have access to the museum. He said that IMLS funding is crucial in making the museum accessible to everyone.
“One of our missions is to serve a broad community across Oregon: from rural to urban centers to every corner of our state and we want to provide education and outreach to those communities but also we want to celebrate the cultural traditions of Oregon,” said Braje. “Without IMLS, we worry about our ability to reach these communities that we want to keep as part of this museum, part of our community, part of the people that we serve in the state of Oregon.”
Keith Sonderling, the new acting director at IMLS, recently released a statement promising to “restore focus on patriotism,” and “promote American exceptionalism and cultivate love of country in future generations.”
Craig worries what this statement could mean for the future of how grants criteria are set and awarded.
“I have a little bit of concern that we could be told what is appropriate and what is not appropriate to display or collect in the stories and education we provide,” said Craig. “That's something we'll have to keep our eye on and try to understand more.”
According to NPR, Sonderling entered the IMLS building with “a handful of DOGE staff” and was sworn in on Thursday, March 20.
