--UPDATED 2/7/2025--
The censorship of the Army Women's Museum's exhibits continues to escalate. On 2/5/2025, staff had to cover parts of interpretive texts in a display about sexual assault and suicide prevention in the military. On 2/7/2025, the DOD and CMH has advised staff to the closure completely cover the exhibit stating that is is "temporarily under construction." [Note: I was mistaken about the extent that the exhibit was covered.]
SEND THIS STORY to your colleagues and everyone that will listen. LinkedIn posts: Army Women's Museum Website Offline, Closure of the Exhibit, and How to Archive Websites/Social Media. Copy and paste wherever you see fit. Make sure that everyone knows.
HELP ARCHIVE WEBSITES IN DANGER OF CENSORSHIP
If you are concerned about a website or social media post is at risk of being removed or edited, please take the time to archive it in its current state AND after you notice changes happen by using the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. On website pages, It is especially helpful to check "Save outlinks" before hitting "Save page," as this saves all of the related pages linked to it. It never hurts to have several archives of the same page!
IF THE WAYBACK MACHINE DOES NOT WORK take screenshots to save them and submit them using THIS FORM.
--ORIGINAL POST--
If you have seen the Netflix original move "The Six Triple Eight" or are otherwise interested in women's history in male-dominated spaces like the military, I want to make you aware of what is happening right now.
The movie's incredible story about over 800 women in the military during WWII is preserved by the Army Women's Museum, which is a military-owned museum in Virginia and the only museum that is entirely dedicated to educating about the history of women and trans stories in the military. Right now, this museum is in danger of censorship, personnel cuts, and potentially more threats directed from the Department of Defense and the Center of Military History. Currently, the Army Women's Museum website is currently offline while "undergoing additional content review," their socials are quiet, and they have been removed from the Center of Military History's listing of military museums (the museum was previously on the list as recently as January 24). They are actively covering up interpretation on display in the galleries. Other military museums are not experiencing this level of control over their means of communication.
I wanted to share this to make people aware of this museum which houses such inspiring history. If you are also alarmed and feel the need to make your voice heard, please send an email to francis.l.reynolds.civ@army.mil" rel="noopener nofollow ugc" target="_blank">francis.l.reynolds.civ@army.mil to let him know about your concern for the safety of the Army Women's Museum collections and educational resources.
------------------------------
Micaela Knox
Program Coordinator
Great American Songbook Foundation
Carmel IN
------------------------------