Colleen Joy Shogan is an American author and academic, and former government official who served as the 11th Archivist of the United States from May 17, 2023, until her dismissal on February 7, 2025. She was the first woman confirmed to serve as Archivist of the United States. Before her appointment, Shogan spent more than a decade in senior leadership roles at the Library of Congress and served as director of the David M. Rubenstein Center for White House History at the White House Historical Association. Following her departure from the National Archives, she became CEO of In Pursuit, a national civics initiative.
Early life and education Born and raised in Greater Pittsburgh, Shogan was encouraged to read mysteries by her late mother, Patricia, and started with books from the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series. Shogan graduated from Norwin High School.
She was a first-generation college student in her family and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Boston College and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in American politics from Yale University, where she was a National Science Foundation graduate fellow.
Career After earning her doctorate, Shogan worked as an assistant professor of government and politics at George Mason University from 2002 to 2006, and also taught at the University of Pennsylvania.
Her academic work focused on American politics and the presidency, including her book Moral Rhetoric of American Presidents, a book on the rhetorical presidency. The book was published by Texas A&M University Press in 2006. Using both quantitative methods and qualitative case studies, the book argues that presidents employ moral and religious rhetoric as a strategic political tool to enhance constitutional authority, examining nine presidents from Washington to Carter.
She later joined the Library of Congress, where she served as assistant deputy for collections and deputy director of the Congressional Research Service. Shogan worked as the vice chair of the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission and taught as an adjunct professor in the government department at Georgetown University, where she also moderated seminars for the Aspen Institute.
In 2005, Shogan came to Capitol Hill through the American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship Program, serving as the William E. Steiger Fellow. She remained on the legislative staff of the United States Senate through 2008.
Shogan joined the Library of Congress in 2008 as a section research manager in the Government and Finance Division of the Congressional Research Service. She advanced to assistant director of the division before being appointed Deputy Director of the Congressional Research Service in 2012. In 2015 she became acting Deputy Director of National and International Outreach, and was formally appointed to that position in 2016. She later served as Assistant Deputy Librarian for Collections and Services, completing more than twelve years in senior leadership roles at the Library.
Shogan also served as vice chair of the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission and was director of the David M. Rubenstein Center for White House History at the White House Historical Association, where she also moderated seminars for the Aspen Institute.
She subsequently published peer-reviewed articles in Perspectives on Politics, Polity, Studies in American Political Development, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Rhetoric & Public Affairs, Women & Politics, and other journals.
Nomination as Archivist of the United States On August 13, 2022, President Joe Biden nominated Shogan to be 11th archivist of the United States.
The U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee held two hearings to consider Shogan's nomination. The first hearing was held on September 21, 2022, and the panel were deadlocked on her nomination by a 7–7 party-line vote and did not advance Shogan's nomination. The second hearing was held February 28, 2023. On March 15, 2023, the committee advanced Shogan's nomination by an 8–4 vote.
During the hearings, Shogan stated that she would not publish the Equal Rights Amendment as part of the United States Constitution, stating that the job of the archivist is to publish constitutional amendments following proper ratification, not to decide when an amendment is published, in line with a Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel memo on the subject in January 2020. Shogan's views were criticized by the ERA Coalition. Shogan also pledged to reduce the backlog of "over 300,000 veterans' records requests", calling it the "most important discrete problem" facing her, and said she would be looking for ways to declassify older historical records. She further promised transparency on records related to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, committed to working with U.S. senator Jon Ossoff on Civil Rights Cold Cases,U.S. Senate, "Hearings Before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs United States Senate", 26 stated that she would "welcome all Americans to the National Archives" if confirmed, and said she would serve in a "nonpartisan, apolitical capacity".U.S. Senate, "Hearings Before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs United States Senate", 19 In her opening statement at the September 2022 hearing, she also pledged to find "creative ways" to make the National Archives and Records Administration more efficient, build upon existing public-private partnerships, and engage underrepresented groups in "meaningful ways".U.S. Senate, "Hearings Before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs United States Senate", 11
On May 4, 2023, the United States Senate invoked cloture on Shogan's nomination by a 53–44 vote. On May 10, 2023, Shogan was confirmed as the 11th archivist of the United States by a 52–45 vote, with her term beginning the following week.
Shogan is the first woman appointed as Archivist of the United States.
Archivist of the United States (2023–2025)
Shogan was sworn in and began work on May 17, 2023, with her first briefing focused on addressing the "backlog of veterans’ records" and speaking with National Personnel Records Center leaders.
On June 17, 2023, Shogan announced that the National Archives would place the Emancipation Proclamation on permanent display in the Rotunda of the National Archives in Washington, D.C., alongside the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. On September 23, 2024, she announced that the 19th Amendment would also be added to the permanent Rotunda display. The additions marked the first permanent changes to the Rotunda in nearly 75 years, timed to coincide with the nation's semiquincentennial celebrations. Shogan stated that together the documents "tell a more comprehensive story of the history of all Americans and document progress in our nation's continuous growth toward a more perfect Union."
On January 24, 2024, the National Archives announced the elimination of the "pandemic-related backlog of veteran records" at the National Personnel Records Center.
On December 17, 2024, Shogan, and the Deputy Archivist, William J. Bosanko, issued a public statement refusing to publish the Equal Rights Amendment, despite push from 120 congressional Democratic representatives, like Cori Bush and Ayanna Pressley, stating that neither they, nor Joe Biden could act without congressional or legal action lifting the ratification deadline. Later, on January 17, 2025, President Biden declared that the ERA had "been ratified" and part of the U.S. Constitution, which had no legal effect on the amendment's ratification, and a senior official, quoted by the Associated Press, stated that Biden did not direct Shogan to certify the amendment.
The American Story exhibit In October 2024, the Wall Street Journal reported that Shogan and senior aides had ordered changes to planned exhibits at the museum's Discovery Center, including the removal of images of Martin Luther King, Jr., Dolores Huerta, and Minnie Spotted-Wolf, images by Dorothea Lange of Japanese-American concentration camps, cut information about the negative environmental effects of coal mining and the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese-Americans. The report cited current and former employees, one of whom filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that Shogan had "abused her authority and engaged in censorship." One of her aide Ellis Brachman asserted that the story is inaccurate, claiming that "balance was missing in the early planning of some of the new galleries here, and we have had to make some difficult decisions during the planning process" and that some people did not "want to do the hard work to address the nuanced and many layered facts of American history." Brachman also told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that "the story is not accurate."
On November 1, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Congressional Black Caucus chairs Judy Chu, Nanette Barragán, and Steven Horsford issued a statement which criticized NARA's reported actions, saying that the agency was "preemptively appeas[ing]...conservative interests" and aligning with far-right "book ban movements nationwide", and urged Shogan to restore these references and exhibits to ensure that "NARA and the National Archives Museum tell the full and most accurate story of our nation."
On October 30, 2024, Shogan issued a response to the Wall Street Journal's reporting. She restated her "commitment to leading NARA without partisanship or ideology", asserted that federal employees are not there to "promote or share our personal interpretation of the records" but are there, in her view, to "preserve, protect, and share the records with all Americans". She also called the article "misinformed" and said she "strongly disagree[d]" with it, arguing that the article was based on "anonymous complaints about that work and my leadership of the agency" and stated that NARA will remain, in her view, "thoughtful in how we engage with our past and focused on fostering understanding and dialogue", and reprinted her statement which had been sent to the Wall Street Journal.
The American Story opened on November 21, 2025, as the museum's new flagship exhibition ahead of the nation's semiquincentennial. The exhibit features nine galleries offering thematic explorations of American history across 250 years, with more than 40 original artifacts and documents including George Washington's annotated draft copy of the Constitution and the original Louisiana Purchase treaty and uses artificial intelligence to provide visitors personalized access to more than two million digitized records. The New York Times described the exhibit as immersive and noted that it opens "keyholes into different topics" rather than imposing a single narrative, mixing physical artifacts with digital displays that allow visitors to engage with curated document collections.
Removal On January 6, 2025, President-elect Donald Trump stated in a phone interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt that he intended to replace Shogan as head of the National Archives, saying "we will have a new archivist." On February 6, ABC News reported that Marco Rubio had been the acting archivist of the United States since the inauguration of Donald Trump on January 20. Later reporting by 404 Media stated that this reporting was misunderstanding, faulty, or a "bad news source," quoting an unnamed National Archives employee, and noted that Shogan was still listed as the archivist of the United States, pointing to an all-hands meeting of National Archives on February 4, where she stated that the agency will implement the guidance of the new administration, is learning about new complex orders, and taking actions "under tight deadlines."