Visit Presidential Libraries

Presidential Libraries can be found across the country, from Massachusetts to California. Visit one soon, and give yourself and your family the opportunity to explore the history of our nation and the leaders who helped shape our society. At Presidential Libraries you will find:

·                          museums featuring interactive exhibits

·                          interesting and fun public programs

·                          important educational events

·                          vast archives available for scholarly research

Presidential Libraries Locations

Herbert Hoover Library - http://www.hoover.archives.gov/

                                                                     

                                                                              

Franklin D. Roosevelt Library - http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/

 

Harry S. Truman Library - http://www.trumanlibrary.org/

 

Dwight D. Eisenhower Library - http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/

 

John F. Kennedy Library - http://www.jfklibrary.org/

 

Lyndon B. Johnson Library - http://www.lbjlibrary.org/

 

Richard Nixon Library - http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/index.php

                                                              

Gerald R. Ford Library - http://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/

                                                           

Jimmy Carter Library - http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/

 

Ronald Reagan Library - http://www.reaganlibrary.gov/

 

George H. W. Bush Library - http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/

 

William J. Clinton Library - http://www.clintonlibrary.gov/

 

George W. Bush Library - http://www.georgewbushlibrary.smu.edu/

           Picture not available for G.W. Bush

 NOTE: There are perhaps as many Presidential Libraries and Museums as there have been Presidents. Such as the one for George Washington at Mount Vernon, Virginia and Thomas Jeffersons Monticello near Lynchburg, Virginia but the following is a list of the N.A.R. A. funded facilities.

Recent U.S. presidents have established presidential libraries in their home states in which documents, artifacts, gifts of state and museum exhibits are maintained that relate to the former president's life and career. Each library also provides an active series of public programs. When a president leaves office, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) establishes a presidential materials project to house and index the documents until a new presidential library is built and transferred to the federal government. The William J. Clinton Presidential Library became the eleventh presidential library on November 18, 2004, and the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum became the twelfth on July 11, 2007.

The presidential library system is made up of thirteen presidential libraries operated by the NARA. Libraries and museums have been established for other presidents, but they are not part of the NARA presidential library system, and are operated by private foundations, historical societies, or state governments, including the William McKinley, Rutherford Hayes, Calvin Coolidge, Abraham Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson libraries. For example, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is owned and operated by the State of Illinois.

The Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace was not originally part of the presidential library system. While the Nixon Presidential Materials Staff, which administers the Nixon presidential materials under the terms of the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act, is part of NARA, the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace was run by a private foundation. In January 2004, Congress passed legislation that provided for the establishment of a federally operated Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. In March 2005, the Archivist of the United States and John Taylor, the director of the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace Foundation, exchanged letters on the requirements to allow the Nixon Library to become the twelfth federally funded Presidential library operated by the NARA by 2007. On October 16, 2006, Dr. Timothy Naftali began his tenure as the first federal director of the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace, and in the winter of 2006 NARA began transferring the 30,000 presidential gifts from the Nixon Presidential Materials Staff in College Park, Maryland to Yorba Linda, California.^[1][2] On July 11, 2007, the Nixon Foundation deeded the Library and Birthplace to the government of the United States. On the same day, the newly-renamed federal Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum officially opened

The Presidential library system formally began in 1939, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt donated his personal and Presidential papers to the federal government. At the same time, Roosevelt pledged part of his estate at Hyde Park, New York to the United States, and friends of the President formed a non-profit corporation to raise funds for the construction of the library and museum building. Roosevelt's decision stemmed from his belief that Presidential papers were an important part of the national heritage and should be accessible to the public. He asked the National Archives to take custody of his papers and other historical materials and to administer his library.

In 1950, Harry S. Truman decided that he, too, would build a library to house his Presidential papers and helped to galvanize congressional action.

The thirteen Presidential Libraries maintain over 400 million pages of textual materials; nearly ten million photographs; over 15 million feet (5,000 km) of motion picture film; nearly 100,000 hours of disc, audiotape, and videotape recordings; and approximately half a million museum objects. These varied holdings make each library a valuable source of information and a center for research on the Presidency.

The most important textual materials in each library are those created by the President and his staff in the course of performing the official duties. Libraries also house numerous objects including family heirlooms, items collected by the President and his family, campaign memorabilia, awards, and the many gifts given to the President by American citizens and foreign dignitaries. These gifts range in type from homemade items to valuable works of art. Curators in Presidential libraries and in other museums throughout the country draw upon these collections for historical exhibits.

Other significant holdings include the personal papers and historical materials donated by individuals associated with the President. These individuals may include Cabinet officials, envoys to foreign governments, political party associates, and the President's family and personal friends. Several libraries have undertaken oral history programs that have produced tape-recorded memoirs. A third body of materials comprises the papers accumulated by the President prior to, and following, his Presidency. Such collections include documents relating to Roosevelt's tenure as Governor of New York and Dwight D. Eisenhower's long military career.

With the exception of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Gerald Ford, and upon their own deaths, Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush, every American president since Hoover is or has chosen to be buried at his presidential library. Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery; Johnson is buried at his ranch in the hill country of Texas, west of Austin; Carter plans to be buried near his home in Plains, Georgia.^[5] George W. Bush has a burial plot in the Texas State Cemetery ^[6]
Unlike all other Presidents whose libraries are part of the NARA system, Ford's library and museum are geographically separate buildings, located in different parts of Michigan; Ford is buried at his museum in Grand Rapids instead of his library in Ann Arbor.

We hope you'll consider going to some of the libraries, as we have enjoyed the few we've been too so immensely.