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Presidential library

 
US Government Guide: Presidential libraries
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Presidential libraries preserve Presidential papers and documents; acquire books, films, and videotapes about Presidents; conduct oral history interviews with members of Presidential administrations; sponsor research conferences; and provide scholars with access to Presidential documents.

The White House papers and documents of all Presidents from George Washington through Warren Harding are located in the manuscript division of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. All Presidents beginning with Herbert Hoover have donated their White House papers to separate Presidential libraries. The libraries are built with private funds. The Presidential Libraries Act of 1955 provided that the National Archives and the National Park Service would maintain the libraries and grounds and would fund professional archivists to take care of and catalog all Presidential papers. These libraries are supervised by their own governing boards and library staffs. The Presidential Libraries Act of 1986 provided that George Bush and his successors would have to use private funds to operate as well as build their Presidential libraries.

The Richard M. Nixon Library is an entirely private operation that receives no public funding and does not contain any original Presidential documents. According to the terms of the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act of 1974 and subsequent laws, Nixon's original papers and tapes are stored in a warehouse controlled by the National Archives.

Presidential libraries opened prior to 1978 are subject to restrictions imposed by each individual President on the use of his White House papers. The Presidential Records Act of 1978 divides materials for all Presidents elected after 1980 into two categories: Presidential papers and personal papers. The personal papers are those that “do not relate to or have an effect upon the carrying out of the constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the President,” such as a personal diary or personal correspondence. Presidents may put whatever restrictions they wish on their personal papers.

In the category of Presidential papers, former Presidents can restrict national security information and personnel files for up to 12 years; all other types of Presidential papers must be open within 5 years. Individuals such as cabinet secretaries or White House aides who donate materials (including oral histories) to Presidential libraries may place their own restrictions on use.

See also Ex-Presidency

  • Source Larry Berman,“Presidential Libraries: How Not to Be a Stranger in a Strange Land”, in Studying the Presidency, edited by George C. Edwards and Stephen J. Wayne (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1983).
  • Martha Joynt Kumar, “Presidential Libraries: Gold Mine, Booby Trap, or Both?”, in Studying the Presidency, edited by George C. Edwards and Stephen J. Wayne (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1983).
  • Frank S. Schick, Records of the Presidency: Presidential Papers and Libraries from Washington to Reagan (Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx, 1989)
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US History Encyclopedia: Presidential Libraries
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Established to concentrate archival materials relating to individual U.S. presidents and to collect pertinent artifacts for research and public viewing, the presidential libraries have become significant archival repositories and museums. Most presidential libraries are federally and privately funded and are operated by the National Archives and Records Administration

(NARA). Two are not part of NARA: the Rutherford B. Hayes Library and Museum in Fremont, Ohio, and the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, California. Established in 1916 the Hayes Library is the oldest presidential library and receives some funding from the state of Ohio. The Nixon Library, opened in 1992, operates largely as a museum because of legal disputes over the custody of Nixon's presidential records. Since passage of the 1974 Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act, Nixon's presidential papers have been processed and housed by NARA, which began to open them to the public in 1987, under the name Nixon Presidential Materials Project.

In 1939 Congress authorized the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, New York, thus making it the first federally administered presidential library. The land and the initial building were privately donated. Roosevelt deeded his official records, personal papers, and many artifacts, which the government agreed to maintain, along with the library structure, for research and museum purposes. The Roosevelt Library opened to the public in 1941. Fund-raising for Harry S. Truman's library began before Truman left office in 1953. Efforts also soon began to establish a library for the new president, Dwight D. Eisenhower. The National Archives consequently sought legislation to regularize the creation of presidential libraries. In 1955 Congress passed the Presidential Libraries Act, allowing the government to accept historical materials, donated land, and buildings for the establishment of presidential libraries and to maintain and operate them. The Truman Library opened in Independence, Missouri, in 1957, and the Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kansas, in 1962. Similar institutions have been created in the names of Herbert Hoover in West Branch, Iowa; John F. Kennedy in Boston; Lyndon B. Johnson in Austin, Texas; Gerald R. Ford in Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids, Michigan; Jimmy Carter in Atlanta, Georgia; Ronald Reagan in Simi Valley, California; and George Bush in College Station, Texas. William Clinton's library will be in Little Rock, Arkansas. Since passage of the 1978 Presidential Records Act, no president can claim private ownership of his papers, but he can restrict access to them for up to twelve years, after which they can be subject to release under the Freedom of Information Act.

In 1992 the federal presidential libraries had in their custody 218 million pages of records and papers and 263,000 artifacts. That year the libraries had 1,534,281 visitors and, with the Nixon records in federal custody, attracted 13,409 daily research visits and 55,906 written and oral inquiries. The availability of such holdings has increased the quantity and quality of research connected with recent presidents and served as a valuable instrument of public education. Private support organizations affiliated with the libraries have also financed conferences, research grants, publications, lectures, and other program aspects of the presidential libraries.

Bibliography

McCoy, Donald R. The National Archives: America's Ministry of Documents, 1934–1968. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1978.

Schick, Frank L., Renee Schick, and Mark Carroll. Records of the Presidency: Presidential Papers and Libraries from Washington to Reagan. Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press, 1989.

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Annual Report for the Year Ended September 30, 1992. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1993.

Veit, Fritz. Presidential Libraries and Collections. New York: Greenwood, 1987.

Wikipedia: Presidential library
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In the United States, the Presidential library system is a nationwide network of 13 libraries administered by the Office of Presidential Libraries, which is part of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). These are not libraries in the modern sense, but rather repositories for preserving and making available the papers, records, collections and other historical materials of every President of the United States since Herbert Hoover.

Although not officially sanctioned and maintained by NARA, libraries have been organized for several Presidents who preceded the official start of the Presidential Library Office.

Contents

Overview

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.[3]

History

Before the advent of the Presidential library system, Presidents or their heirs often dispersed Presidential papers at the end of the administration. Though many pre-Hoover collections now reside in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, others are split among other libraries, historical societies, and private collections. However, many materials have been lost or deliberately destroyed.

Lucretia Rudolph Garfield, the wife of James A. Garfield, President from March 4, 1881 until his death on September 19, 1881, added a Memorial Library wing, four years after his assassination, to their family home, Lawnfield, in Mentor, OH. James A. Garfield NHS is operated by the National Park Service and the Western Reserve Historical Society.

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. In 1955 Congress passed the Presidential Libraries Act, establishing a system of privately erected and federally maintained libraries. The Act encouraged other Presidents to donate their historical materials to the government and ensured the preservation of Presidential papers and their availability to the American people. Under this and subsequent acts, nine more libraries have been established. In each case, funds from private and nonfederal public sources provided the funds to build the library. Once completed, the private organization turned over the libraries to the National Archives and Records Administration to operate and maintain.

Until 1978, Presidents, scholars, and legal professionals held the view dating back to George Washington that the records created by the President or his staff while in office remained the personal property of the President and were his to take with him when he left office. The first Presidential libraries were built on this concept. NARA successfully persuaded Presidents to donate their historical materials to the federal government for housing in a Presidential library managed by NARA.

The Presidential Records Act of 1978 established that the 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 Act allowed for the continuation of Presidential libraries as the repository for Presidential records.

The Presidential Libraries Act of 1986 also made significant changes to Presidential libraries, requiring private endowments linked to the size of the facility. NARA uses these endowments to offset a portion of the maintenance costs for the library.

Holdings

The twelve 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 his own death, Jimmy Carter, 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.[4] 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.

List of presidential libraries

This is a list of the presidential libraries.

# President Library name Location Operated By Image
6 John Quincy Adams Stone Library at Adams National Historical Park Quincy, Massachusetts National Park Service Old House, Quincy, Massachusetts.JPG
16 Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Springfield, Illinois State of Illinois Lincoln Museum Exterior.jpg
19 Rutherford Hayes Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center Fremont, Ohio Ohio Historical Society & Hayes Presidential Center, Inc. HayesLibrary.jpg
25 William McKinley William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum Canton, Ohio Stark County Historical Society
28 Woodrow Wilson Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library Staunton, Virginia Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library Foundation Wilson Birthplace Jan 2007.jpg
30 Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum Northampton, Massachusetts Forbes Library
31 Herbert Hoover Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum West Branch, Iowa National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Herbert Hoover Presidential Library 003.jpg
32 Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum Hyde Park, New York NARA Frakling D Roosevelt Presidential Library.jpg
33 Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum and Library Independence, Missouri NARA Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum.jpg
34 Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library Abilene, Kansas NARA Eisenhower library.jpg
35 John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum Dorchester, Massachusetts| NARA JFK library Stitch Crop.jpg
36 Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum Austin, Texas NARA and The University of Texas at Austin | Johnson library.jpg
37 Richard Nixon Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum Yorba Linda, California NARA Nixon Library and Gardens.jpg
38 Gerald R. Ford Gerald R. Ford Museum; Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library Grand Rapids, Michigan; Ann Arbor, Michigan NARA GRFord-Presidential.jpg
39 Jimmy Carter Jimmy Carter Library and Museum Atlanta, Georgia NARA Carter lib1.JPG
40 Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Simi Valley, California NARA Av477-5.jpg
41 George H. W. Bush George Bush Presidential Library & Museum College Station, Texas NARA BushLibrary.JPG
42 Bill Clinton William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park Little Rock, Arkansas NARA Clinton pres library.jpg
43 George W. Bush George W. Bush Presidential Center University Park, Texas George W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation (construction)
NARA (operation)

See also

References

  • Portions of this article based on public domain text from the National Archives and Records Administration
  • Benjamin Hufbauer, "Presidential Temples: How Memorials and Libraries Shape Public Memory," Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2006.

External links

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U.S. Presidential Libraries
v • d • e
Lists of Presidents and Vice Presidents of the United States
Presidential lists by order
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Personal life
Vice presidential lists
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Flag of the United States  United States National Libraries
Other related libraries and services:   Federal depository library   •   National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)   •   Presidential library system

Notes

  1. ^ New Nixon Web Site
  2. ^ National Archives Names Director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
  3. ^ The National Archives Opens Federal Nixon Library, Releases Previously-Restricted Documents and Tapes
  4. ^ Carter hopes to be buried in hometown of Plains, Ga.

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US Government Guide. The Oxford Guide to the United States Government. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2002 by John J. Patrick, Richard M. Pious, Donald M. Ritchie. All rights reserved.  Read more
US History Encyclopedia. © 2006 through a partnership of Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Presidential library".  Read more