| First in a series By Linda Lotridge Levin Rhode Island Library Report Why are the presidential libraries of interest to librarians, scholars and the public? The first United States president to have a library open to the public that housed his official papers, personal letters and memorabilia was Franklin D. Roosevelt. Until then, presidential papers, if they survived at all, tended to |  THE FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT Presidential Library and Museum. The first of the libraries, in Hyde Park, N.Y. Photo credit: FDR library |
go to the Library of Congress, to a public institution that had some relationship to the president, or to members of his family.
Every president since FDR has built a library to show off his life and work. All are open to the public and especially to scholars, who use them to navigate through the files of letters, newspaper clippings, photos and anything that will lead to the production of a well-documented article or book on the president or even on members of his family, his aides or his friends.
These libraries have become treasure troves of materials for historians in their attempts to re-create the lives of the presidents. Separate rooms usually are available to them, although it is not just scholars who sit there carefully picking through the minutiae. Members of the public are allowed to do the same.
One day a decade or so ago, the daughter of Admiral Richard Byrd and her husband showed up at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, N.Y., hoping to find letters that the president may have written to the polar explorer. (As one-time assistant secretary of the Navy and an avid sailor, Roosevelt had a lifelong passion for all things naval.) With the help of an archivist, the couple spent most of the day searching in the boxed containers. When they finished, they had come up with a letter to her father from the president.
For non-researchers, the libraries are a part of museums, filled with presidential furniture, pictures, awards, clothing (like the gown a first lady wore to the inaugural ball), and, in the case, of the Roosevelt Library, the Ford convertible with hand controls that FDR drove around his estate. Often the president’s birthplace is nearby, and you can tour that, too.
Every president since FDR has built a library to show off his life and work. All are open to the public and especially to scholars, who use them to navigate through the files of letters, newspaper clippings, photos and anything that will lead to the production of a well-documented article or book on the president or even on members of his family, his aides or his friends.
These libraries have become treasure troves of materials for historians in their attempts to re-create the lives of the presidents. Separate rooms usually are available to them, although it is not just scholars who sit there carefully picking through the minutiae. Members of the public are allowed to do the same.
One day a decade or so ago, the daughter of Admiral Richard Byrd and her husband showed up at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, N.Y., hoping to find letters that the president may have written to the polar explorer. (As one-time assistant secretary of the Navy and an avid sailor, Roosevelt had a lifelong passion for all things naval.) With the help of an archivist, the couple spent most of the day searching in the boxed containers. When they finished, they had come up with a letter to her father from the president.
For non-researchers, the libraries are a part of museums, filled with presidential furniture, pictures, awards, clothing (like the gown a first lady wore to the inaugural ball), and, in the case, of the Roosevelt Library, the Ford convertible with hand controls that FDR drove around his estate. Often the president’s birthplace is nearby, and you can tour that, too.
History of the libraries
| Building a repository for a president’s papers had never been an issue until 1939, when FDR, now nearing the end of his second term, decided to donate his personal and official papers to the federal government. Housing them would be no obstacle. FDR simply formed a nonprofit corporation and raised money from his friends to build a library on his estate in Hyde Park. Until the war absorbed most of his time, Roosevelt spent hours planning the construction of the building, setting a precedent for future presidents and their libraries. When the library was completed, FDR turned over its management to the National Archives. |  Linda Levin, author of this series about presidential libraries, spoke at a 2011 forum about domestic advisers to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She talked about her book about FDR's press secretary, Stephen Early. Here's a link to a C-Span recording of the forum. |
A decade later, President Harry S. Truman decided that he, too, would build a library in his hometown of Independence, Mo. In 1955 Congress passed the Presidential Libraries Act. It established a system under which private citizens could donate funds to build the library, which would be operated and maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). This ensured that presidential papers and memorabilia would be preserved and made available to the public, although it was not until 1978, during President Jimmy Carter’s administration, that NARA persuaded presidents to donate their materials to the federal government for preservation. Traditionally, presidents believed that any materials created while they held office were their personal property, to take with them when they left office.
According to NARA’s website, the 1978 act established that presidential records that document the constitutional, statutory, and ceremonial duties of the president are the property of the United States government. After the president leaves office, the archivist of the United States assumes custody of the records. The law allowed for the continued construction of presidential libraries as the repository for presidential records.
The growth of the federal government since the early 1960s has paralleled the size of presidential libraries. The Reagan Library is the largest presidential library at 243,000 square feet, with 50 million pages of presidential documents, more than 1.6 million photographs, a half-million feet of motion picture film and tens of thousands of audio and video tapes. In 2005 a 90,000-square-foot pavilion was added to the library and museum to house Air Force One, the plane on which Reagan and six other presidents flew.
Until the Air Force One addition to the Reagan Library, the Clinton library, at 680,000 square feet, was the largest. It houses two million photographs, 80 million pages of documents, 21 million e-mail messages and 79,000 artifacts from the Clinton presidency.
According to NARA’s website, the 1978 act established that presidential records that document the constitutional, statutory, and ceremonial duties of the president are the property of the United States government. After the president leaves office, the archivist of the United States assumes custody of the records. The law allowed for the continued construction of presidential libraries as the repository for presidential records.
The growth of the federal government since the early 1960s has paralleled the size of presidential libraries. The Reagan Library is the largest presidential library at 243,000 square feet, with 50 million pages of presidential documents, more than 1.6 million photographs, a half-million feet of motion picture film and tens of thousands of audio and video tapes. In 2005 a 90,000-square-foot pavilion was added to the library and museum to house Air Force One, the plane on which Reagan and six other presidents flew.
Until the Air Force One addition to the Reagan Library, the Clinton library, at 680,000 square feet, was the largest. It houses two million photographs, 80 million pages of documents, 21 million e-mail messages and 79,000 artifacts from the Clinton presidency.
Who has presidential libraries? And where are they?
| There are thirteen presidential libraries. All are open to the public and include research facilities. Herbert Hoover’s library is in West Branch, Iowa, next to his birthplace. The site also has a reconstruction of his father’s blacksmith shop and the Quaker meeting house where the family worshipped. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s library and museum are on the grounds of the home in Hyde Park where he was born and lived for most of his life. It overlooks the Hudson River. Franklin and his wife, Eleanor, are buried on the grounds. In addition to the library and museum, the home is open to the public. |  OVAL OFFICE replica at the President Jimmy Carter library in Georgia. Photo: Carter library |
Harry Truman’s library and museum is in Independence, Missouri, a few blocks from his home, which also is open to the public.
Dwight David Eisenhower’s library and museum is in Abilene, Kan. His birthplace, open to the public, is in Denison, Texas, and the farm where he and his wife, Mamie, lived after he left the White House is in Gettysburg, Pa., at the edge of the Civil War battlefield. It, too, is open to the public.
The presidential museum and library of President John F. Kennedy is in the Dorchester section of Boston on Columbia Point overlooking a section of Boston Harbor. Kennedy’s childhood home is in the Boston suburb of Brookline and is open for tours only in the summer.
The Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum is on the University of Texas campus in Austin.
The Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library and Museum is in his hometown of Yorba Linda, California, a fifteen-minute drive from Disneyland. President Nixon’s birthplace and his presidential helicopter also are on the grounds and are open to the public.
President Nixon’s successor, Gerald R. Ford, has a library on the campus of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where Ford attended college and starred on the football team. Ford’s museum is in his hometown of Grand Rapids, about a two-hour drive from Ann Arbor.
President Jimmy Carter’s library and museum is set in a park with sculptures and gardens and is about two miles east of downtown Atlanta.
Dwight David Eisenhower’s library and museum is in Abilene, Kan. His birthplace, open to the public, is in Denison, Texas, and the farm where he and his wife, Mamie, lived after he left the White House is in Gettysburg, Pa., at the edge of the Civil War battlefield. It, too, is open to the public.
The presidential museum and library of President John F. Kennedy is in the Dorchester section of Boston on Columbia Point overlooking a section of Boston Harbor. Kennedy’s childhood home is in the Boston suburb of Brookline and is open for tours only in the summer.
The Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum is on the University of Texas campus in Austin.
The Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library and Museum is in his hometown of Yorba Linda, California, a fifteen-minute drive from Disneyland. President Nixon’s birthplace and his presidential helicopter also are on the grounds and are open to the public.
President Nixon’s successor, Gerald R. Ford, has a library on the campus of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where Ford attended college and starred on the football team. Ford’s museum is in his hometown of Grand Rapids, about a two-hour drive from Ann Arbor.
President Jimmy Carter’s library and museum is set in a park with sculptures and gardens and is about two miles east of downtown Atlanta.
 AIR FORCE ONE on display at the Reagan library in California. Photo: Reagan library | The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library is in Simi Valley, California, about forty miles from downtown Los Angeles. The George H.W. Bush Library and Museum is in College Station Texas, on the campus of Texas A&M University |
adjoining the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center and the George Bush School of Government and Public Service.
Little Rock, Arkansas, is home to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum.
The George H. Bush on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, is expected to open in May 2013.
Little Rock, Arkansas, is home to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum.
The George H. Bush on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, is expected to open in May 2013.
Where are the other presidents’ papers?
You will find George Washington’s papers at his home, Mount Vernon, near Alexandria, in northern Virginia. His home is open to the public. The library is open by appointment to researchers. In addition to materials at Mount Vernon, the Library of Congress houses 65,000 documents in the George Washington Papers collection.
Next fall, the state-of-the-art Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington will open on the grounds of Mount Vernon for scholars and students to study the first president.
The papers of President John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams, are in the Library of Congress and at the family home in Quincy, Mass. In fact, you will find presidential papers for Madison, Monroe, Jackson, and most other nineteenth-century presidents in the Library of Congress.
Lincoln’s papers are primarily in the Library of Congress, but some are at his home and museum in Springfield, Ill. To search for presidential papers, go to the Library of Congress website, www.LOC.gov, or do a Google search for the president you are researching.
Researched and written by Linda Lotridge Levin, professor of journalism, University of Rhode Island. This is the first in a series on presidential libraries. Coming up is the Hoover library, a change from our earlier plans to do the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum next.
© Copyright Linda Lotridge Levin
Next fall, the state-of-the-art Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington will open on the grounds of Mount Vernon for scholars and students to study the first president.
The papers of President John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams, are in the Library of Congress and at the family home in Quincy, Mass. In fact, you will find presidential papers for Madison, Monroe, Jackson, and most other nineteenth-century presidents in the Library of Congress.
Lincoln’s papers are primarily in the Library of Congress, but some are at his home and museum in Springfield, Ill. To search for presidential papers, go to the Library of Congress website, www.LOC.gov, or do a Google search for the president you are researching.
Researched and written by Linda Lotridge Levin, professor of journalism, University of Rhode Island. This is the first in a series on presidential libraries. Coming up is the Hoover library, a change from our earlier plans to do the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum next.
© Copyright Linda Lotridge Levin
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