Former Archivist of the U.S. Colleen Shogan on preserving historic documents, facing public pressure, and being fired by President Trump
The U.S. Constitution is displayed at the National Archives on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, in Washington. INSET: Colleen Shogan testifies before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on her nomination to be archivist of the U.S. in this file photo from Feb. 28, 2023. U.S. Constitution: Mark Schiefelbein/AP — Colleen Shogan (inset): Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
Colleen Shogan was the 11th Archivist of the United States — the head of the National Archives and Records Administration. The agency is responsible for safeguarding America's founding documents, other important government records, and running many of the presidential libraries across the country.
Shogan was appointed by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate. But while the job is traditionally seen as non-partisan and the tenure of many previous archivists have spanned administrations of both parties, President Donald Trump fired Shogan soon after taking office.
"I was never told why I was dismissed," Shogan tells The 21st Show. "The White House has never said anything about it."
We'll talk about that, as well as controversies that came up during the Biden administration on the Equal Rights Amendment and how to strike a balance in presenting the good and bad in American history.
Illinois Event
Shogan will be one of two keynote speakers at the 23rd annual UIS Beaumont Endowed Lincoln Legacy Lecture. This year's event is titled “Lincoln and the Age of Disruption.” The other speaker is Jason Emerson, former Lincoln Home park ranger and author of Giant in the Shadows: The Life of Robert T. Lincoln and The Madness of Mary Lincoln. (Emerson is substituting for Jon Grinspan, curator of political history at the Smithsonian and author of Wide Awake: The Forgotten Force That Elected Lincoln and Spurred the Civil War, who is not permitted to participate in the event during the federal government shutdown.)
What: UIS Beaumont Endowed Lincoln Legacy Lecture
When: 6:30 p.m. Thursday, October 16, 2025
Where: UIS Student Union, 2251 Richard Wright Dr, Springfield, IL
Cost: Free and open to the public
Guest
Colleen Shogan
Eleventh Archivist of the United States (2023–2025)
Senior advisor, More Perfect
Civics fellow, Stand Together
Co-chair, board of directors, National Women’s Suffrage Monument Foundation
