The Present
In May of 2019, the National Archives Museum opened an exhibit showcasing the history of American women's struggle for voting rights. In the lobby for that exhibit was a display on a wall which, when viewed from different perspectives, showed either a 1913 women's suffrage march or the 2017 Women's March.
This image shows the picture in-between the two perspectives. However, this blended perspective does not show four doctored 2017 protester signs within the picture. In January of 2020, over 8 months after the exhibit opened, the Washington Post ran an article calling out the National Archives for altering those four protester signs in their display.
This is the original image of the 2017 Women's March. The four signs circled (seen near the bottom corners) were altered by the National Archives.
The alterations comprised of:
Blurring "TRUMP" in "GOD HATES TRUMP"
Blurring "Trump" in "Trump and GOP- Hands Off Women"
Blurring "Pussy" in "This Pussy Grabs Back"
Blurring "vagina" in “If my vagina could shoot bullets, it’d be less REGULATED”
Following the Washington Post article, the National Archives released a statement admitting they had altered the photo and apologizing for doing so. In addition to this, in a response from the Archivist for the United States Hon. David Ferriero as well as other statements, the National Archives claims that they altered the image in order to avoid accusations of partisanship and complaints of inappropriate language for children. However, this apology and justification was insufficient for some, including the American Civil Liberties Union, who submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for internal documents relating to the archive's exhibit.
Freedom of Information Act request of January 22nd, 2020 Regarding the Women's March Image
In an email from Aug 8th, 2017, an image early draft of the display can be seen.
This November 1st, 2018 email is the first mention of a content review on the photograph of the women's march. Note the mention of "The Archivist."
This email explains what's meant by "a careful look." It's unclear when this message was sent, as the shown send date of January 5th is inconsistent with it's content. Again, note the capitalization of "Archivist."
This November 5th, 2018 email is the first mention of potential alterations to the "offensive language" on the signs.
This Nov 23rd, 2018 email gives us the first example of when the photograph was altered. The image to the right was attached at the bottom of the email. Red circles are added to indicate the signs in question. On Nov 29th, Getty images approved the use of the altered photo.
A digital receipt from Getty Images sent to "(b)(6)" shows confirmation of payment for an altered image. Getty Image acknowledges that this will be used for a "museum or educational institution depicting historic events or a topic of educational merit." December 10th, 2018
This February 22nd, 2019 email notes a possible 5th sign to be altered. It's unclear whether the sign was altered, as no there's no further mention of the proposed change and I was unable to find the sign in the crowd.
On March 13th, 2019, [R] emails himself a final display mockup sent to donors. All four signs are still censored.
What we learn from the Freedom of Information request
The National Archives and Records Administration set out to create a display that blends two images of historic women's rights marches in order to showcase them. During the creation of that display, attention was drawn to the fact that "The Archivist" requested the team to inspect the image for offensive signage. The team found potentially offensive material (the four signs) and altered the image to remove them. They then licensed the image from Getty Images, the owner of the image, who they had been talking with about, among other things, how they needed to make the alterations. Getty images then cleared and licensed their use of the altered image. The altered image was then used to create the display (seen at the top of the page.)
Noted in my summary of the emails was the use of the term "The Archivist." There is clear reason to believe that the redacted directing figure (b)(a) is the same figure also known in the emails chains as "The Archivist". Both titles probably refer to the office of the Archivist for The United States Hon. David Ferriero, head archivist at the NARA (retired 2022, after overseeing the transfer of Trump's archive material.)
A Previous Incident Involving the Anti-Trump Signs in the 2017 Women's March Photo
On June 4th, 2019, the Library of Congress opened an exhibit titled "Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote" In that exhibit was going to be a mural of the same 2017 Women's March photo involved in this controversy. Five days before the exhibit opened, the image was replaced because of concerns that the mural would appear critical of (former) President Donald Trump.