Presidential library
In the United States the system of president libraries is a nationwide network of libraries that are managed by the Office of the President Libraries (Office of Presidential Libraries ), the part of the administration of the National Archives and Records Administration ( NARA) is. These are not traditional libraries, but rather repositories for documents, records and other historical materials of every president since Herbert Hoover, which are made available to the public, so to archives.
Overview
Every president of the United States has a presidential library are kept in his home state, in which documents, artifacts, and visual materials that are available to its former President career in relationship. Each library also contains a museum and operates public programs. When a president leaves the office, built a new president of the NARA project until a new presidential library built and the federal government have been sold.
The system currently consists of the president Libraries 13 libraries. There are also libraries to several presidents before Hoover which are not administered by the National Archives and Records Administration, and the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library, which does not belong to the system of libraries president since Jefferson Davis was president of the Confederate States of America.
History
Before there was the system of president libraries that presidents or their heirs have distributed the documents after the end of her reign. Although many collections before Hoover are now in the Library of Congress, others are distributed to many libraries, historical societies and private collections. There were many materials lost or destroyed.
The system libraries, the President officially began in 1939, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt donated his personal and presidential documents the federal government. At the same time Roosevelt bequeathed a portion of his landed property in Hyde Park (New York) United States and the President's friends founded a non-profit organization to raise funds for the construction of a library and a museum. Roosevelt's decision was based on the belief that the documents of the President were an important part of the national American heritage and the public should be made available. He asked the National Archives to store and manage its library the documents and other historical materials.
1950 Harry S. Truman decided that he would also build a library to house the documents by the President and sought to legislative process in Congress. 1955 Congress enacted the Presidential Libraries Act, which erected a system of private and federal state-run libraries has been established. The resolution encouraged other presidents to give their historic materials of the government and ensured the preservation of these documents and accessibility to the public. After this and other acts of Congress more libraries were built. In each case presented private and non- federal public sources, the funds to build the library. Upon completion, the private organizations gave the Libraries of the management of the national archives and documents ( National Archives and Records Administration, NARA ) for operation and maintenance.
Until 1978 the President, scholars and jurists were of the opinion, which was since George Washington that the records which had created during his term of office, the President or his staff, personal property of the Presidents were and could be taken away from him when he made the Office. The first presidential libraries were established with this legal opinion. NARA successfully convinced the President to donate their historical materials of the federal government in order to preserve them in a managed by the NARA Library.
The "Law on the records of the President " ( Presidential Records Act ) of 1978 decreed that the records of the President, which document the constitutional, statutory, and ceremonial duties of the President, the property of the Government of the United States are. After a president delivers his office, the Archivist of the United States accepts the documents for safekeeping. The Act allows that the president libraries remain location of these documents.
The "Law on the records of the President " ( Presidential Records Act ) of 1986 changed the presidential libraries significantly, by private foundations were required, corresponding to the size of the library. The NARA uses these foundations to fund a portion of the maintenance costs of a library.
The Presidential Libraries hold more than 400 million pages of text documents, nearly 10 million photographs, more than 5 km film, almost 100,000 hours audio and video recordings, and about half a million museum objects. These diverse holdings make each library to be a valuable source of information and a center for research on a presidency.
The most important texts in each library are the ones that have been created by the President and his staff in carrying out their official duties. The libraries also contain many museum objects, including family heirlooms, items that were collected by the President or his family, campaign souvenirs, prices and the many gifts that have been made to the President of American citizens or foreign dignitaries. These gifts range from handicrafts to valuable works of art. Curators in the presidential libraries and other museums use these collections for historical exhibitions.
Other important holdings are the personal papers and historical materials that have been donated by individuals who stood with the president. These people are cabinet members, ambassadors to foreign governments, party friends, the president's family and personal friends. Different libraries have established oral history programs that have provided tape memoirs. A third volume of stocks are the documents that has accumulated before or after his presidency, a president. Such collections include documents relating to Roosevelt's time as governor of New York and Dwight D. Eisenhower's long military career.
Every president since Hoover has been or will be buried according to his own will at his presidential library. Exceptions are John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Johnson at his ranch in his family hill country in Texas.
Survey
- Similar libraries that are not administered by the National Archives and Records Administration.
Others
The Federal Republic of Germany has adopted the system of president libraries in the approach by the previous five direct federal foundations under public law, the so-called politicians memorial foundations founded for outstanding German statesmen. These are the Otto von Bismarck Foundation in Friedrichsruh, the Foundation Reich President Friedrich Ebert Memorial in Heidelberg, the Foundation Chancellor Adenauer House in Rhöndorf, the Foundation President Theodor Heuss-Haus in Stuttgart and the Chancellor - Willy -Brandt -Stiftung in Berlin.