by Niamh Connell, Research Historian

With the presidential election approaching, who the next president will be looms large. The dominant narrative centers on the present and future of what a president can do for the nation. But how do we remember them? Although this question typically operates on a case-by-case basis, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) plays a vital role in the preservation of a president’s legacy through the creation and maintenance of Presidential Libraries.

Franklin D. Roosevelt originally developed the Presidential Library to preserve the large number of documents his administration created. In 1939, Congress passed a joint resolution to create FDR’s inaugural Library under NARA guidance.¹ The National Archives, created just five years earlier, also under FDR’s New Deal legislation, was primarily focused on collecting and organizing documents from across the United States and federal agencies into an organized and centralized location. The Presidential Libraries served as one of the first opportunities for the National Archives to move beyond preservation and into the public eye with a museum component.

Brochure from FDR’s Presidential Library the year it opened.²

The creation of Presidential Libraries fit within the New Deal’s era of preservation-focused legislation. At the time, documents created by an administration were considered the president’s personal property and thus up to them to decide what to do with after they left office. Although some important documents were preserved in private museums, many documents from administrations prior to FDR were destroyed or distributed with no oversight.³ Although not required by law, every president from Hoover to Carter followed in FDR’s footsteps, donating their administration’s documents through a deed of gift, a legal document between a donor and an archival repository.⁴ Despite the prevailing idea that presidential documents were personal property, presidents before 1978 saw the greater value in enshrining their work and legacy through a Presidential Library, entrusting their documents to the National Archives.

An Era of Change

The decades of presidential tradition and precedence ended in the wake of Watergate. Nixon tried to avoid handing over his presidential documents to any federal agency. To preserve presidential accountability, Congress passed the Recordings and Materials Preservation Act in 1974, effectively transferring ownership of Nixon’s presidential documents, including audio recordings, to the National Archives.⁵

To mitigate any future scandals like Watergate, Congress passed the Presidential Records Act of 1978 (PRA).⁶ While the Recordings and Materials Preservation Act in 1974 applied only to Nixon, this new legislation applied to every future president to take office. The PRA established that all documents from the president, vice president, or high-ranking officials working for the Executive Office were no longer considered personal property but official documents to be preserved for future public use. Additionally, the Act stated that once an administration ends, control of presidential documents passes to the Archivist of the United States. Following the transfer, the documents are taken to a one of the seventeen NARA facilities located across the United States and processed by archivists. In total, the documents are held and processed for 5 years and then available to the public in Presidential Libraries and, in some cases, restricted under the Freedom of Information Act.

The relationship between the Oval Office and NARA remains vital as the two depend on each other to preserve presidential and federal United States history. So, what happens when there is a transfer of presidential power? Starting on January 20^th — Inauguration Day — NARA assumes responsibility for the outgoing administration’s documents and distributes an informational pamphlet to those in the incoming administration.⁷ The pamphlet instructs the administration’s staff on what to do with the presidential documents and presents a record management guide for the documents the administration will create over the forthcoming four to eight years. Once the final transfer is complete, NARA staff manages the libraries to ensure the documents are available to the public and are properly preserved.

What are Presidential Libraries?

While preserving documents alone helps enshrine a president’s legacy and creates a relationship between the president’s office and NARA, most libraries are accompanied by a museum. Though an administration’s documents provide a vital look into the accomplishments and struggles of a president, the museum usually details the public and private life of those who held executive office. It ultimately creates a fascinating re-telling of the president’s life.

To access the documents in a Presidential Library researchers can go in person or request some documents online. Unlike most libraries, Presidential Libraries do not have books on a shelf for people to borrow. They operate like most NARA repositories—researchers must request records and view them in the Library. Some documents in Presidential Libraries, however, can only be accessed by making a FOIA request. FOIA requests allow the public to access records from all federal agencies. However, documents that discuss current national security issues remain inaccessible to the public even through a FOIA.

So, what types of documents are in Presidential Libraries? There are SO many, and it continues to grow with the advent of new technologies. Despite the ever-changing nature of record keeping, there are three main record types: textual, electronic, and audiovisual. Textual records are the most straightforward and include letters, memos, schedules, briefing papers, and publications.⁸ Electronic documents are emails, electronic files like spreadsheets and word processing files, digital images, social media content, and any digitized content from the Executive Office.⁹ The final category, audiovisual, includes audio and video recordings and photographs.¹⁰ Essentially everything from an Instagram post to a letter is included in a Presidential Library.

While Presidential documents are preserved in the Libraries, the accompanying museums showcase important items from a President’s life and administration. This too can range from something as small as a pen used to sign legislation or a replica of Air Force One, a major attraction of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. In addition to exhibits, many feature a variety of events and changing exhibits to connect the public with presidential history.

Photo of the records kept at the Lyndon B. Johnson’s Presidential Library in Austin, Texas.¹¹

Location, Location, Location

Each location is deeply personal to the president it honors. Every place connects to a president’s childhood or foundational aspect of their life. For example, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Library and Museum in Hyde Park is located on his family’s estate; George H.W. Bush picked College Station, Texas part of Texas A&M to honor the college and due to his love of his home state of Texas.

Like his father, George W. Bush choose to have his Presidential Library in Texas, also to honor the state he served. Located in Dallas, Texas on the Southern Methodist University campus, the George W. Bush Presidential Library is the most recent library to open—its dedication ceremony was in April 2013.

In a break from tradition, President Obama opted for a completely digital library. Although there will be no physical location, the National Archives will still manage his collection. While not creating a physical Presidential Library, he is creating the Obama Presidential Center. The Center is planned to span nineteen acres in Chicago and will include a museum and branch of the Chicago Public Library.¹² Although not an official Presidential Library, the selection of Chicago encapsulates the same idea of location importance as other president’s Libraries as he worked and met his wife in the city. Both President Biden and former President Trump and have decided to stay with tradition, and have only discussed physical locations for Libraries, although neither has officially announced a final location.

Presidential Libraries’ locations hold importance beyond the president’s life. Other than John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Jimmy Carter, every president since Hoover is buried at their Presidential Library, many next to those they loved.¹³ This decision to be buried at their Presidential Library signifies the love they held for the office and country.

During its almost one-hundred-year long history, the National Archives has gone through many changes and taken on hundreds of new tasks. However, Presidential Libraries have remained a cornerstone of their work since the creation of FDR’s Library in 1939. Presidential Libraries and museums are a wonderful public resource for research and a chance to discover a more complete picture of a president’s life!

For more information on Presidential Libraries, see Marielle Gage’s blog here.

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