National Archives apologizes for altering photo with anti-Trump signs

Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The National Archives on Saturday apologized for altering a 2017 photograph to censor signs referencing women's anatomy and President Donald Trump's name.

In a series of tweets, the Archives acknowledged it had altered the images, said that it had erred in doing so and that it had removed the displayed photo with the original, unaltered image.

The Washington Post first reported Friday on a photo from the first Women's March in Washington, D.C., which happened one day after the President was inaugurated.

The photo, taken by Getty Images' Mario Tama, was part of the National Archives' exhibit celebrating the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which prohibited states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to U.S. citizens based on sex.

It shows a sea of people marching down Pennsylvania Avenue with signs and banners.

On signs that read "God Hates Trump" and "Trump & GOP - Hands Off Women," Trump's name is blurred out of the photo.

On Saturday morning, Washington Post reporter Joe Heim tweeted that he had discovered the altered photo by chance as he was visiting the Archives to do research for an unrelated story.

On Friday the Archives sent an emailed statement to the Washington Post saying the federal agency is "non-partisan" and "non-political" and that staff had blurred references to the current President "so as not to engage in current political controversy."

"Our mission is to safeguard and provide access to the nation's most important federal records, and our exhibits are one way in which we connect the American people to those records. Modifying the image was an attempt on our part to keep the focus on the records," spokeswoman Miriam Kleiman said.