About

Save Our Signs is a community collaboration co-founded by a group of librarians, public historians, and data experts in partnership with the Data Rescue Project and Safeguarding Research & Culture.  

Contact us at: saveoursigns@pm.me

Project leadership includes:

• Kirsten Delegard, Project Director, Mapping Prejudice, University of Minnesota 

• Jenny McBurney, Government Publications Librarian, University of Minnesota 

• Molly Blake, Social Sciences Librarian, University of Minnesota 

• Lynda Kellam, Data Rescue Project Steering Committee 

• Lena Bohman, Data Rescue Project Steering Committee 

Our History and Scientific Knowledge is Under Threat.

The National Park Service is the nation’s largest outdoor classroom. Spanning over 400 sites, the Parks work tirelessly to fulfill their legal mandate to steward our nation’s stories and make them accessible to all Americans. 

Real history is not just happy stories. 

The Secretary of the Interior has asked people to report signs in the Parks that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.” This grows out of Executive Order 14253, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which seeks to erase “negative” stories from public view. Content deemed inappropriate was ordered to be removed by September 17, 2025, but we know the process is ongoing. Some signs have already been removed.

Join our effort to build a community archive of the signs, exhibits, and texts that could soon disappear from our national parks.

We must act quickly to preserve all Americans’ stories. 

The Executive Order and Secretary Order

President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14253 from March 27, 2025, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” threatens to deprive Americans of access to their histories by ordering that 

“all public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties within the Department of the Interior’s jurisdiction do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times), and instead focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people or, with respect to natural features, the beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the American landscape.”  

Subsequently, on May 20, 2025, the Secretary of the Interior published Secretary Order 3431, also titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History”, that directed the NPS and other land management bureaus to (among other tasks) review properties for “inappropriate content”, which he defined as content that “inappropriately disparages Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times), or, with respect to content describing natural features, that emphasizes matters unrelated to the beauty, abundance, or grandeur of said natural feature,” and to remove and replace that content within 120 days (which we calculated to be Sept. 17, 2025).

Additionally, each location was required to post signs throughout each property that have a QR code and state: 

“(Name of property) belongs to the American people, and (name of land management Bureau) wants your feedback. Please let us know if you have identified (1) any areas of the (park/area, etc. as appropriate) that need repair; (2) any services that need improvement; or (3) any signs or other information that are negative about either past or living Americans or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of landscapes and other natural features.”