The Society of American Historians, a small group with some big-name members, has suspended Smithsonian Books as a publisher-member to protest what it called the Smithsonian Institution’s “increasingly commercial approach to its mission,” according to an article in today’s Washington Post.

The society, whose members include historians like Robert Dallek, David Levering Lewis, and Eric Foner, and which promotes great historical writing by presenting a series of prestigious annual prizes, criticized the Smithsonian’s recent agreement with Showtime, a deal that limited some filmmakers’ access to the museum’s holdings. The society also assailed Smithsonian Books for a co-publishing deal with HarperCollins that led to the transfer of hundreds of Smithsonian titles to the commercial publisher but left several dozen other titles in a kind of publication limbo (The Chronicle, January 27).

The Smithsonian, which has refused to disclose the text of the agreements, has also drawn fire from the Society of American Archivists, the American Association of Museums, the American Library Association, and the Association of Research Libraries.