Skip to main content
It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results.
Purdue University Purdue Logo Purdue Libraries

Presidential Libraries and Records: Home

Provides access to presidential records produced by the presidential library system and other sources.

Presidential Libraries and Records

During their tenure in office, U.S. Presidents generate tremendous volumes of official papers and electronic resources reflecting the responsibilities of their respective presidencies.  Before the Hoover Administration, the papers of many presidents can be found in the Library of Congress and other libraries across the U.S.  Starting with the Hoover Administration, presidential records can be found in a series of presidential libraries around the U.S administered by the National Archives & Records Administration.  Funding for these libraries is raised through private sector sources.  General information about these libraries can be be found through this section of the National Archives website.

Trump-Pence Transition
​2017 Presidential Inauguration

Presidential libraries are primarily used by presidential scholars.  Information on statutes and regulations governing presidential records access can be found  here.  Besides their archival resources, presidential library facilities also feature museums that are open to the public.  These museums provide exhibits on various aspects of individual presidents, their presidencies, and  their personal lives.  Each of these libraries has websites providing information about various programs and exhibits going on at their respective facilities and access to documents on events occurring during the presidencies of these individuals.  These presidential library websites are:

Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library & Museum (Northampton, MA-(Not managed by National Archives.)
 Herbert Hoover Library (West Branch, IA)
 Franklin D. Roosevelt Library (Hyde Park, NY)
 Harry S. Truman Library (Independence, MO)
 Dwight D. Eisenhower Library (Abilene, KS)
 John F. Kennedy Library (Boston, MA)
 Lyndon B. Johnson Library (Austin, TX)
 Richard Nixon Presidential Library (College Park, MD & Yorba Linda, CA)
 Gerald R. Ford Library (Ann Arbor, MI.)(Note:  The Ford Museum is in
  Grand Rapids, MI.)
 Jimmy Carter Library (Atlanta, GA)
 Ronald Reagan Library (Simi Valley, CA)
 George Bush Library (College Station, TX)
 William J. Clinton Presidential Library (Little Rock, AR)
Bill Clinton Birthplace Home (Hope, AR)
 George W. Bush Presidential Library & Museum (Dallas, TX. Located at Southern Methodist University,
Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX is the site for the George W. Bush Presidential Library.
George W. Bush Childhood Home (Midland, TX)

Go to the White House for documentation of Donald Trump's presidency. See the Barack Obama Foundation for information about the potential Chicago location for his presidential library. See here for Barack Obama Administration White House websites.

 Before creation of the presidential library system, presidential papers
 and materials were kept at the Library of Congress and in other sites.
 Some presidential papers have been digitized through the Library of
 Congress´American Memory Project.  Selected papers of additional
 presidents that have been digitized by other sources are also listed.  Examples
 o f these resources include:

"I Do Solemnly Swear..." Presidential Inaugurations

George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress

George Washington Papers Presidential Series
HSSE - 4th floor   973.41 W277As3

George Washington Presidential Library (Mt. Vernon, VA-Opened late 2013)

John Adams Papers (Selected-Courtesy Massachusetts Historical Society-Boston, MA)

The Works of John Adams HSSE 2nd floor 308 Ad12xa

Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress

Papers of Thomas Jefferson HSSE - 2nd floor   308 J35r

James Madison Presidential Papers at the Library of Congress

William Henry Harrison Papers and Documents(1791-1864)(Courtesy-Indiana Historical Society)

William Henry Harrison Grouseland Mansion (Vincennes, IN)

John Tyler home Sherwood Forest (Charles City, VA)

William Henry Harrison Papers (1799-1864):  Courtesy Indiana Historical Society
Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library (This facility is not part of the National Archives presidential library sytem.-Opened April 2005)

Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site (St. Louis, MO)

Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library (Mississippi State University-Starkville, MS)

Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center (Fremont, OH)

James A Garfield National Historic Site (Mentor, OH)

Grover Cleveland Papers (Selected-University of California-Santa Barbara)

Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site (Indianapolis, IN)

William McKinley Presidential Library & Museum (Canton, OH)

Theodore Roosevelt Center (Dickinson State University-Dickinson, ND)

William Howard Taft National Historic Site (Cincinnati, OH)

Woodrow Wilson Papers (Courtesy-American Presidency Project-University of California-Santa Barbara

Warren Harding Home (Marion, OH)

Presidential Election of 1912 (Courtesy-Library of Congress)
White House Transition Project

 

Subject Specialist