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'Save Our Signs' Preservation Project Launches Archive of 10,000 National Park Signs (404media.co) 43

Posted by BeauHD from the crowdsourced-efforts dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: On Monday, a publicly-sourced archive of more than 10,000 national park signs and monument placards went public as part of a massive volunteer project to save historical and educational placards from around the country that risk removal by the Trump administration. Visitors to national parks and other public monuments at more than 300 sites across the U.S. took photos of signs and submitted them to the archive to be saved in case they're ever removed in the wake of the Trump administration's rewriting of park history. The full archive is available here, with submissions from July to the end of September. The signs people have captured include historical photos from Alcatraz, stories from the African American Civil War Memorial, photos and accounts from the Brown v. Board of Education National History Park, and hundreds more sites. "I'm so excited to share this collaborative photo collection with the public. As librarians, our goal is to preserve the knowledge and stories told in these signs. We want to put the signs back in the people's hands," Jenny McBurney, Government Publications Librarian at the University of Minnesota and one of the co-founders of the Save Our Signs project, said in a press release. "We are so grateful for all the people who have contributed their time and energy to this project. The outpouring of support has been so heartening. We hope the launch of this archive is a way for people to see all their work come together."
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'Save Our Signs' Preservation Project Launches Archive of 10,000 National Park Signs More

'Save Our Signs' Preservation Project Launches Archive of 10,000 National Park Signs

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  • A good thing (Score:4, Insightful)

    by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Wednesday October 15, 2025 @05:12AM (#65726026)

    When you're claiming there is too much emphasis on how bad slavery was [nbcnews.com] in national exhibits, then go out of your way to hide what took place by saying it was "anti-American ideology" to show how badly people were mistreated, you might be a racist.

    When you tell people if they see any information which they believe casts a negative view [npr.org] of any person past or present and to report it to authorities, you might be a fascist.

    Since it is clear this regime is intent on rewriting and whitewashing historical facts, it is incumbent upon the people to preserve history in all its facets, good or bad.

    • The only unusual thing about slavery in America is that we fought a war to end it- and did so at a time when slavery was the global norm. Slavery is still practiced in the millions by China, Islamic nations, cartels and others.

      • Exactly. The USA fought kicking and screaming to keep their slaves. But, it was also smack dab in the middle of a spate of abolition by colonial powers around the same time. The only thing notable is that you guys killed each other over it. (Not that others didn't but it was usually the enslaved doing the killing)

        • The 5% of the southern states that owned slaves fought kicking and screaming to keep their slaves; everyone else got dragged into it.

    • Was it whitewashing to pull statues and rename schools?

      Why do we need to discuss slavery on signs in a bird sanctuary? Thats not denying slavery happened, its's taking the topic out of a conversation it doesn't belong.

      • I went to Mammoth Cave in the early months of this administration. Prior to going, I had no idea about how that cave system was first explored. As it turns out, in the 1840's, there was an enslaved guide named Stephen Bishop who did a lot (if not the lion's share) of the early exploration. He wasn't a freed man until 1856, a year before he died.

        I don't think anyone's saying that there's a necessity to discuss how slavery was a component where it wasn't, but the fact remains that slavery DID play a part in a

      • Was it whitewashing to pull statues and rename schools?

        Why would we want to honor traitors who wanted to keep slavery and who lost the battle?

  • For nothing more than today I like signs too. Sounds like a mission

  • The order gave a deadline of September 17, and by September 20, some signs were already going missing, including signs at Acadia National Park in Maine that referenced climate change, and another at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in New York City that referenced historical events like slavery, Japanese camps and conflicts with Native Americans, according to the Washington Post.

    I get why a sign in a park might reference climate change, but why do signs in a bird sanctuary refer to "slavery, Japanese [interment?] Camps, and conflicts with Native Americans"?

    I never understood the post-George Floyd race to hide statutes and rename forts, bridges, schools, mountains, etc, but I have to say, removing references to "conflicts with Native Americans" in a bird sanctuary sounds sorta reasonable to me...

    • You've made this comment several times in this thread. Can you give me a link to the sign that was removed? I didn't see it in the linked article. Perhaps, to answer your question, some context might help? Unless you're not at all interested in an answer to your question...

      Also, if you think all this started with George Floyd, you've been asleep for the last 30+ years.

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