August 30, 2025
The “Save Our Signs” Project
By Leonard Chan
In the 1953 Ray Bradbury novel Fahrenheit 451, a future world is depicted where novels are banned and if found, burned. Mere possession of these books could get you into a lot of trouble. At the end of the book, the main character discovers a community of outcast booklovers that work to preserve the novels by committing the books to memory. Each member of the community memorizes a single book and then destroys the paper copy of the book so that they would not technically be breaking the law.
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In a not too dissimilar way, in today’s real world, a community of librarians, public historians, and data experts in partnership with the “Data Rescue Project” and “Safeguarding Research & Culture,” are working to preserve United States National Park signage.
The “Save Our Signs” effort is meant to counteract the order (Order 3431) of the Secretary of the Interior which seeks to whitewash American history (read the NPR story on “National Park signage encourages the public to help erase negative stories at its sites”).
Here is some of what is written at the “Save Our Signs” webpage
The National Park Service is the nation’s largest outdoor history classroom. Spanning 400 sites, the Parks work tirelessly to fulfill their legal mandate to steward our nation’s stories and make them accessible to all Americans.
Real history is not just happy stories. But the Secretary of the Interior is asking Americans to report signs in the Parks that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.” This grows out of Executive Order 14253, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which seeks to erase “negative” stories from public view. Content deemed inappropriate has been ordered to be removed by September 17, 2025.
The “Save Our Signs” project is asking us to help preserve what is currently posted on signage in our National Parks by taking photos of the signs and uploading them to a central depository.
If you are looking to help, in some simple concrete way, please check out the “Save Our Signs” website
At the very least, check out the National Park Service’s websites for such places as the Tule Lake National Monument or the Manzanar National Historic Site. Read what is currently there and learn. If these sites should change and get sanitized, please let us and others know what has been altered.
Like the book loving characters in Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, it’s up to all of us, those that care about the accurate telling of history, to work to preserve it.
Copyright © 2025 by AACP, Inc.