June 2022 I took a road trip from Phoenix to Knoxville, Iowa to attend the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Knoxville Raceway. I don’t think my trips are necessarily book-themed, but I did buy some books along the way, so maybe they are (I will post about those book later)! During my long trip across the country, I had two specific stops on my list: Abilene, Kansas, for the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, and West Branch, Iowa, for the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum. As it turns out, the end of my trip allowed me to also swing by Independence, Missouri and visit the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum. I was very excited to visit three of the more out-of-the-way museums. Many of them are in cities like Boston, Los Angeles, and Austin, but others stick to home towns and are a destination on their own. My first presidential library was the Clinton library in Little Rock about 10 years ago. I found it fascinating, and after that I decided that I would visit all of them.
Not every US president has a Presidential Library and Museum supported by the National Archives. This practice started with President Franklin D Roosevelt in 1939 and was passed into law with the Presidential Libraries Act of 1955. The library portions generally house papers from the administration and are accessible by researchers. The museum portions tell the stories of the individual presidents through their entire lives, not just their political careers. Personally, I wish I could visit them in order and walk through our history from beginning to end. The first library on the National Archives list is actually President Hoover’s library, and then FDR, and so on, but if you want to learn about earlier presidents you may have to visit birthplaces, childhood homes, and museums that are supported by local historical societies, descendants, or towns. In some cases you have both options: Gerald Ford has a presidential library, but I passed a sign for the Gerald Ford Birthplace in Omaha (no time for that one on this trip). I have only been to one of these so far – the Woodrow Wilson Birthplace, in Staunton, Virginia, which is now also known as the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum and is designated a National Historic Landmark. My son and I visited this one several years ago, and it was just as good as the more recent ones. However, you can tell that the archival collection seemed a little smaller, and I would have to guess that would be true the further back through history we go.
I have been impressed by each of the Presidential libraries. I will have separate posts about each library I have visited. I am going to start with Eisenhower because it was my first one on the most recent trip. I will continue to update as I visit new ones – I hope to visit JFK, Reagan, Nixon, and the Bushes in the next couple of years.
When visiting presidential libraries, visit the website to find out hours (most seem to close at 4:30 or 5:00, including the gift shop), any days of the week that they might be closed, including government holidays, and any accompanying exhibits or areas to visit that might increase the amount of time you want to spend there. I like to read all of the displays and learn as much as I can, so I will spend a couple of hours in each museum, and generally always wish I had a little more time at the end. Most have short videos or longer movies, and I never have time for those, so leave a little extra time if you want to get the full experience.
Throughout I tend to use the term presidential library, but I have only visited the museums and not the library portions – as you will see from the link below, even the National Archives uses the term ‘presidential library’ to encompass the entire facility, which in some cases includes former offices, various public spaces, home sites, and burial plots on the same property. If you want to learn more about Presidential Libraries, visit the National Archives website:
Michelle Rambles 