The National Archives shouldered the blame for blurring anti-Trump messages in an exhibit promotion.

Anti-Trump messages blurred in portrayals

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The National Archives and Records Administration said Saturday that it made a mistake when it blurred images of anti-Trump signs used in an exhibit on women’s suffrage.

The independent agency is charged with preserving government and historical records and said it has always been committed to preserving its holdings “without alteration.”

The archives issued a statement Saturday acknowledging the error. The archives’ statement came one day after The Washington Post published an online report about the altered images.

The archives said the photo in question is not one of its archival records but rather was licensed for use as a promotional graphic in the exhibit.

“Nonetheless, we were wrong to alter the image,” the agency said.

The current display has been removed and will be replaced as soon as possible with one that uses the original, unaltered image, the archives said.

The exhibit is about the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. It blurred some anti-Trump messages on protest signs in a photo of the 2017 Women’s March in Washington, which was held shortly after Trump took office.

The archives said it will immediately begin a “thorough review” of its policies and procedures for exhibits “so that this does not happen again.”

The American Civil Liberties Union called on the archives to issue a more detailed explanation.

“Apologizing is not enough,” Louise Melling, the organization’s deputy legal director, said in a statement. “The National Archives must explain to the public why it took the Orwellian step of trying to rewrite history and erasing women’s bodies from it, as well as who ordered it.”

Archives spokeswoman Miriam Kleiman told the Post for its report that the nonpartisan, nonpolitical federal agency blurred the anti-Trump references “so as not to engage in current political controversy.”

Kleiman did not respond to an emailed request for comment Saturday.

Susan Walsh The Associated Press President Donald Trump waves before getting into his vehicle after arriving at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Friday. The president and his family are spending the weekend at their Mar-a-Lago estate.