Presidential Libraries
Presidential Libraries presented by Jeri Diehl Cusack Our National Archives For the first 150 or so years, each U. S. government agency kept its own records – sometimes without much special care or organization – until the establishment of the National Archives. The National Archives & the position of National Archivist were created by Congressional statute in 1934… during FDR’s first term in office. National Archives & Records Administration (or “NARA”) Best known for housing the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution & the Bill of Rights in its building on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the National Archives is now “our nation’s official record keeper.” NARA includes a nationwide network of regional archives & records facilities. NARA has an Office of Presidential Libraries: http://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/ NARA Presidential Library Holdings 400 million pages 10 million photos 15 million feet of motion picture film 100,000 hours of audio/video tapes/discs 500,000+ museum objects History of Presidential Libraries In December of 1938, during his second term of office, FDR announced a plan to build a library to preserve his public papers. Some previous presidents had not taken such action; their papers had been lost, sold, scattered, damaged or even destroyed. FDR raised funds from private donors to fund building his project near his home in Hyde Park NY; later he donated the library to the U.S. Government via the National Archives. FDR’s Sketch of Proposed Library, drawn April 12, 1937 http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/library/archchron.html Dedication Ceremony 6.30.1941 http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/library/onedefinitelocality.html FDR, the great collector Originally, the museum was essentially a showcase for FDR’s various collections: a gallery devoted to his model ships and a room full of “oddities,” gifts given to the Roosevelts during FDR’s years in office.
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