Presidential Libraries and Records
During their tenure in office, U.S. Presidents generate tremendous volumes of official papers reflecting the responsibilities of their respective presidencies. Before the Hoover Administration, the papers of many presidents can be found in the Library of Congress and other libraries across the U.S. Starting with the Hoover Administration, presidential records can be found in a series of presidential libraries around the U.S. These libraries are administered by the National Archives and Records Administration and funding for these facilities is raised through private sector sources. General information about these libraries can be found in this section of the National Archives website.
Presidential
libraries are primarily used by presidential scholars. Information on statutes and regulations governing presidential records access can be found here. Besides
their archival resources, presidential library facilities also feature museums that are open to the public. These museums provide exhibits on various aspects of individual presidents, their presidencies,
and
their personal lives. Each of these libraries has websites providing
information about various programs and exhibits going on at their respective
facilities and access to documents on events occurring during the presidencies of
these individuals. These presidential library websites are:
Herbert Hoover Library (West
Branch, IA)
Franklin D.
Roosevelt Library (Hyde Park, NY)
Harry S. Truman
Library (Independence, MO)
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Library (Abilene, KS)
John F. Kennedy Library
(Boston, MA)
Lyndon B. Johnson
Library (Austin, TX)
Richard Nixon Presidential
Library (College Park, MD & Yorba Linda, CA)
Gerald R. Ford Library (Ann
Arbor, MI.)(Note: The Ford Museum is in
Grand Rapids, MI.)
Jimmy Carter
Library (Atlanta, GA)
Ronald Reagan Library
(Simi Valley, CA)
George Bush Library
(College Station, TX)
William J. Clinton
Presidential Library (Little Rock, AR)
George W. Bush Presidential Center (Dallas, TX. Located at Southern Methodist University, this site is under development.)
Southern Methodist Universityin Dallas, TX has been chosen as the site for the George W. Bush Presidential Library.
Go HERE for Bush White House website and other administration documentation
Go to the White House for documentation of Barack Obama's presidency..
Before creation of the presidential library system, presidential
papers
and materials were kept at the Library of Congress and in
other sites.
Some presidential papers have been digitized through the Library
of
Congress´American Memory Project. Selected papers
of additional
presidents that have been digitized by other sources are also
listed. Examples
o
f these resources include:
| "I Do Solemnly Swear..." Presidential Inaugurations |
| George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress |
| John Adams Papers (Selected-Courtesy Massachusetts Historical Society-Boston, MA) |
| Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress |
| James Madison Presidential Papers at the Library of Congress |
| Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress |
| Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library (This facility is not part of the National Archives presidential library sytem.-Opened April 2005) |
| Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center (Fremont, OH) |
