You Don't Need a Library Card for These Libraries

Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham,

Can you tell me where he's gone?

He freed a lotta people,
but it seems the good die young

But I just looked around and he's gone.

Has anybody here seen my old friend John,

Can you tell me where he's gone?

He freed a lotta people,
but it seems the good die young

But I just looked around and he's gone.

~Abraham, Martin and John
Dion DiMucci

As a teenager in Springfield, Illinois, I spent many hours at the Lincoln Library--it was the public library, which was located next to my dad's office in the Municipal Building. So, when I heard that the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum was being built in my hometown, I was a little confused. Were they building a new public library? No. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum would document the life of President Abraham Lincoln. Springfield's public library is still called Lincoln Library.

Abe is not the only U.S. President to have a library dedicated to him. In fact, out of 44 past Presidents, 26 have libraries, with another in the works. Every President from Herbert Hoover to George W. Bush has a Presidential Library administered by the Office of Presidential Libraries, which is a part of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). President Obama's library will be handled a little differently (more about that later).

Like Abraham Lincoln, Presidents who preceded Herbert Hoover do not have Presidential Libraries administered by the NARA. Lincoln is one of 13 Presidents (see table below) who have libraries that are not sanctioned and maintained by the NARA. Some are managed by private foundations. Some are managed by state governments. For the first father-son combination of Presidents, John Adams and John Quincy Adams, the library is part of the the National Park Service at Adams National Historical Park.

Whether under the purview of NARA or not, these are not traditional libraries. They are repositories for preserving and making accessible the papers, records, and other historical materials of U.S. Presidents. The museum portion of a Presidential Library is open to the general public, and provides a way for everyone to learn more about a particular President.

If you're traveling this summer, you might want to check out one or more of the Presidential Libraries and Museums listed below. I highly recommend the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois.

The Presidential Library System (Hoover to present)

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 Library of Congress, others are split among other libraries, historical societies, and private collections. Unfortunately, many materials have been lost or deliberately destroyed.

The Presidential Library system formally began in 1939, when President Franklin Roosevelt donated his personal and Presidential papers to the Federal Government. At the same time, Roosevelt pledged part of his estate at Hyde Park to the United States, and friends of the President formed a nonprofit corporation to raise funds for the construction of the library and museum building. 

Roosevelt's decision stemmed from a belief that Presidential papers are an important part of the national heritage and should be accessible to the public. He asked the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to take custody of his papers and other historical materials and to administer his library.

In 1950, Harry S. Truman decided that he also would build a library to house his Presidential papers and helped to spur 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.

Until 1978, Presidents, scholars, and legal professionals believed 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 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.

For more information on the Presidential Libraries System, see Frequently Asked Questions.

When a President Leaves Office

For the Presidents through President George W. Bush, new libraries followed the model of the Roosevelt Library. The libraries are constructed with private and other non-federal funds. A private, nonprofit organization is formed to coordinate fundraising and construction of the library-museum and to provide support for programs. Meanwhile, NARA establishes a Presidential project until a new Presidential Library is built. Once completed, the private organization turned over the libraries to the NARA to operate and maintain.

The Obama Library

The Obama library will follow a different model. NARA will not administer a museum or a traditional "Presidential Library" building. Instead records from Barack Obama's presidency will be digitized to the greatest extent possible, making Presidential records available to researchers regardless of location. NARA will still be responsible for the records and storing the original documents, but the new facility in Chicago will be run by the Obama Foundation and The University of Chicago. The Obama Presidential Center will be a privately operated, non-federal organization located in Jackson Park on the South Side of Chicago. 

Presidential Library Locations

No.	President	Library Name and Operator	Location
1	George Washington	Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon	Mount Vernon, Virginia
2	John Adams	Stone Library at Adams National Historical Park	Quincy, Massachusetts
3	Thomas Jefferson	Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Kenwood	Charlottesville, Virginia
5	James Monroe	James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library	Fredericksburg, Virginia
6	John Quincy Adams	Stone Library at Adams National Historical Park	Quincy, Massachusetts
16	Abraham Lincoln	Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum	Springfield, Illinois
17	Andrew Johnson	President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library	Tusculum, Tennessee
18	Ulysses S. Grant	Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library	Starkville, Mississippi
19	Rutherford B. Hayes	Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center	Fremont, Ohio
20	James Garfield	James A. Garfield National Historic Site	Mentor, Ohio
25	William McKinley	William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum	Canton, Ohio
28	Woodrow Wilson	Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library	Staunton, Virginia
30	Calvin Collidge	Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum	Northhampton, Massachusetts
31	Herbert Hoover	Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum	West Branch, Iowa
32	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum	Hyde Park, New York
33	Harry S. Truman	Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum	Independence, Missouri
34	Dwight Eisenhower	Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum	Abilene, Kansas
35	John F. Kennedy	John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum	Boston, Massachusetts
36	Lyndon B. Johnson	Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum	Austin, Texas
37	Richard M. Nixon	Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum	Yorba Linda, California
38	Gerald Ford	Gerald R. Ford Museum Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library	Grand Rapids, Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan
39	Jimmy Carter	Jimmy Carter Library and Museum	Atlanta, Georgia
40	Ronald Reagan	Ronald Reagan Presidential Library	Simi Valley, California
41	George H.W. Bush	George Bush Presidential Library & Museum	College Station, Texas
42	Bill Clinton	William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park	Little Rock, Arkansas
43	George W. Bush	George W. Bush Presidential Center	Dallas, Texas
44	Barack Obama	Barack Obama Presidential Center	Chicago, Illinois