The expanded exhibit became the first in the nation to be altered following an executive order by Donald Trump in March to rid park signage of any language he would deem unpatriotic.
Trump's aim was to restore federal sites that he said had been changed since 2020 to perpetuate a "false reconstruction of American history" including "improper partisan ideology." The Muir Woods change was first reported by SF Gate.
Elizabeth Villano, a former park ranger who helped create the new version of the sign, criticized the move, writing that the Trump administration "is actively censoring American history from the public."
She said the goal of the project was to make sure nothing on the original sign was eliminated, but to add details so people could see the difference in how history was told and how it could be expanded to include more voices. Now, she said, that history is being erased.
"I think one of the most underrated components of the National Park Service is that we are paid public historians," she said in an interview with The Times. "We're paid to tell all Americans' stories and not pick and choose whose we tell. And yet, over time, the stories that tend to be told over and over again are the ones that tend to be told through the perspective of people who have held the most power."
Before the notes were added in 2021, the first date included in the sign's timeline, called "Path to Preservation," was the establishment of the first national park in the United States, Yellowstone, in 1872. The next was 1892 when the Sierra Club was founded in San Francisco with John Muir as its first president.
But staff at the time found that some key information was missing from the timeline, namely the work of the Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo people who tended to the land before Europeans arrived in North America. They also included the first campaign to save the region launched by a women's club in 1904.
Of course, not all the information added to the timeline was positive.
Staff detailed Spanish missionaries exploiting the work of Indigenous people in the Bay Area to build California missions and congressional actions stripping Coast Miwok people of title to their ancestral lands, including Muir Woods.
The revised timeline didn't shy away from pointing out the complex legacies of key figures who helped spearhead the creation of the national monument. It noted that John Muir referred to Indigenous people using racist language in his diary, which was published years before his death, and pointed out William Kent's vote in Congress to prevent noncitizens from owning or leasing land.
The rangers didn't cast blame for the omissions, saying that the expanded narratives were reflective of increasing diversity among park service employees in the years since the timeline was first unveiled.
"From redwood conservation to the legacy of the country's founders, American stories are enriched by complexity, dimension, and challenge. It’s not our job to judge these stories or promote a singular narrative. As national park rangers, it is our mandate to tell complete stories that reflect who we are as a society. And as Americans, it’s important that we hear them," according to a National Park Service post about the changes.
Trump's executive order directed the Department of the Interior to identify any public monuments, memorials, statues or markers that had been removed or changed since 2020 to "perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history," minimize the value of historical events or figures or include "improper partisan ideology" and to reinstate prior monuments.
The order also directed officials to ensure that monuments do not contain content that disparages Americans. Instead, the monuments should 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," the order states.
Critics have said Trump's directive demands a rose-colored view of more complex events that make up American history.
