#presidential libraries

[usnatarchives]

Bess Truman, born on February 13, 1885.

The future First Lady loved hats even as a child. According to her best friend, Mary Paxton, Bess “always looked more stylish than anyone else in the crowd…. Bess had more stylish hats than the rest of us did, or she wore them with more style.”

[deadpresidents]

"I'm sure that the Presidents who stand out in our history and in our memory are those who led the nation through times of great trial and challenge...Washington, Jackson, Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman. On the other hand, these very same Presidents would not be regarded now as great if their reactions and their responses had been weak, or if they had failed to achieve some of their major goals of if they had run away from the challenges...Greatness is an elusive thing and the judgment of history is sometimes different from that that is made when a President's in office or just after he leaves office. Wilson died a broken and disappointed man because he failed to win approval of the League [of Nations]. Yet history has judged that he was right in that fight and the willful men of the Senate who opposed him were wrong...There are a great many misconceptions about the Presidency...Some people think the President is a man who welcomes visitors to our country, who signs the laws that Congress sends him, who occasionally makes a speech about one of our problems, a kind of father or figurehead. Others see him as a manipulator or as an arm twister who is interested in power and how to use it. Others see him as a solitary figure surrounded by yes men, insulated from all [counselors], isolated from the real world. But very few people have any idea of the long and tedious and grinding work that goes into every Presidential day. I doubt that there was a single day of the Presidency, Sundays included, that I didn't give two or three hours to just solitary reading. There was hardly a night that I was President that I didn't read two or three hours. Even if it were a State Dinner or dancing...when I retired for the evening, I would have two hours of night reading ahead of me...No President in history has been able to do all the things that he or the people hoped he could accomplish at the time of election. But that doesn't mean that the job is impossible and that doesn't mean it's doomed. It's doable."

-- Former President Lyndon B. Johnson, on some of the unseen work of the Presidency.

Here's a great photograph taken by White House photographer Robert Knudson of some of LBJ's "night reading" homework, waiting for the President on his bed in the White House on October 12, 1966:

(I want to thank the incredible archivists at the @lbjlibrary and the National Archives ( @usnatarchives on Tumblr) -- especially, in this case, Chris of the Audiovisual Archives at the LBJ Library -- for tracking down a high-quality version of this specific photo for me. Without having any specifics on when or where the photo was taken, I reached out to the LBJ Library and vaguely described seeing this photo in the past and they quickly found a high-quality file that they sent me. The LBJ Library has done this numerous times for me over the years and I cannot express how grateful I always am for their help. The archivists at the National Archives and the NARA's Presidential Library system are incredible public servants and one of the very best examples of our federal government providing services to and for the American people.)

[macaron-n-cheese]

I went to the Nixon and Reagan Presidential Library and Museums today!

I have a migraine from reading in the car so I'm not going to write a lot.

Nixon. I love his signature anime girlie pose :)

WOOF WOOF

THE JASON HEUSER PAINTING IN THE CORNER

I can now say that I am a Richard Nixon fan, he's just silly. The intro video actually called him a loser since he's always lose before he won 😭

Reagan

NOOOO NOT CUSTER 🤢🤮

It's still so cool that Reagan acted and was even President of the Actor's Guild.

President fandom:

MARX 'S THUMBS-UP IS SO FUNNY. Teach your kids about the wonders of communism RIGHT NOW. 👍

Horse :)

the glare is horrendous...BEAN PORTRAIT

*😐 among us WHOHMP tat tat tat* uh....

[fdrlibrary]

Visit From Kara Blond

We were delighted to host Kara Blond, Director of Presidential Libraries, for a visit last week. Our staff was excited to meet with her and have the opportunity to show off the FDR Library!

@ourpresidents

[noctomania]

Presidential centers from Hoover to Bush and Obama unite to warn of fragile state of US democracy

The statement released Thursday, the first time the libraries have joined to make such a public declaration, said Americans have a strong interest in supporting democratic movements and human rights around the world because “free societies elsewhere contribute to our own security and prosperity here at home.”

[deadpresidents]

Never mess with an archivist.

[archivyrep]

A post written in April 2019 which talks about Robert Caro's flawed ideas on archival research, archival digitization, and digital archives.

[diemelusine]

Hand-tinted photograph of Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1903) by Frances Benjamin Johnston. Library of Congress.

[thashining]

Octavia Butler - Parable Of The Sower 1993

[fictionadventurer]

I never was able to find out why China has a larger version of this statue of Lincoln, but it's cool that it exists.

[usnatarchives]

#OnThisDay in 1981 Sesame Street LIVE performed at the Thanksgiving Party at the White House.

Photos Courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

[deadpresidents]

Have you ever written a letter to a president and got a response?

I've been a Presidential history nerd since I was a little kid. I don't know when I first became interested in the Presidents or what specifically piqued that interest, but I know that I can't remember a time where it wasn't something I wanted to learn everything I could possible learn about it. So when we'd go to the school library in elementary school, my friends would check out age-appropriate kids books and I would check out full-fledged Presidential biographies.

So, yes, I absolutely wrote letters to Presidents and I still have some of the responses I received. As a kid, I sent a letter to the White House whenever there was a new President because I never forgot what happened the first time I wrote to a President. I was probably 7 or 8 years old and back when the phone companies would publish yellow pages and white pages, they would have sections with contact information for government officials. I saw that there was an address for the White House (1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW), so I wrote a letter to President Reagan. I have no idea what I wrote at the time, but I remember that I got a big envelope from the White House with a little note written on fancy paper with the Presidential seal and a signed photo of the President, as well as a little booklet about the White House. I don't have that first letter from Reagan, but after he left office, I had learned about the Presidential Libraries and the fact that former Presidents had post-Presidential offices. I wrote to former President Reagan at his office in Los Angeles and received pretty much the same thing I had been sent while he was still in office. I do still have that:

I wrote to President George H.W. Bush and President Clinton when they were in the White House, too. President Bush sent a letter and photo and President Clinton sent a photo:

Those were the last incumbent Presidents that I wrote to while they were in the White House. I turned 13 years old when President Clinton took office in 1993 (and I mean that literally -- believe it or not, my birthday is Inauguration Day) and while I was still interested in Presidential history, I was also interested in girls, so I kind of grew out of the letter-writing. But when I was a teenager, I did also write to former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter at their post-Presidential offices. Sadly, I didn't get around to writing to former President Nixon before he died in 1994, so I never received anything from him. I regret that I didn't write to him in time because that's around the time I wrote to former Presidents Ford and Carter.

But President Ford and President Carter really made my nerdy letter writing all worthwhile. The letters and photos I received from President Reagan, President Bush, and President Clinton were all signed by an auto-pen, as you would expect for someone responding to as much mail as the President of the United States does.

However, President Ford and President Carter sent me photos with their actual autographs! I remember Ford sent some packets of information about himself and a copy of an interview where he answered a bunch of questions about stuff that kids might be interested in. Carter also sent something like that, as well as a folder with information about the Carter Center and the work it does around the world. But the coolest thing to receive were the photos with their genuine autographs on them. I took advantage of that and actually wrote to President Ford several times when I was a teenager (I don't know why I seem to have written to President Carter only once) in hopes that his office would send me more autographs and they did!

Looking back, I wish I never would have grown out of writing letters to Presidents because those are all really cool little souvenirs, especially for a Presidential history fanatic. It would have been fun to have similar things from other Presidents. But if you have a kid or if you are a kid (if you are a kid, I sure hope you have parental permission to read my blog because I say bad words sometimes) with interest in the Presidents/Presidential history, it's really fun to write to the President or former President and get something back. At one point, you could just drop a letter in the mail addressed to "THE PRESIDENT, Washington, D.C.) and it would be delivered to the incumbent in the White House, but I'm not sure if they do that anymore. But it's super easy to find the mailing address to the White House or to the post-Presidential offices of former Presidents online. Presidents and former Presidents have franking privileges, so it's also cool to get a big envelope with a President's signature in the place of stamps. If you're a teacher of younger kids who are learning about the Presidents or Presidency, it's also a cool little project to do. When I was running afterschool programs many (way too many) years ago, I did that with my students and they all received photos from the President at the time (George W. Bush), along with a letter that was addressed to the entire group as a whole.

[dxmxuse]

What is a book ban and is it going to change? - A brief explanation and non-exhaustive list

For the last several years, the concept of banning books has been a widely debated topic. With some opposed to the ban, citing freedom of speech, others claim that the ban protects school age children from pre-mature exposure to adult concepts and topics. My goal throughout this post is to help clarify what exactly a book ban is (as of 2024) and provide my opinion on the future of book banning. I will also be linking several websites which delve deeper into the topic and provide full lists of banned or challenged books throughout the US. Grab your popcorn kiddos this is going to be a long one.

So, what exactly is a book ban? Well, in the US (again, as of 2024) banning books predominantly means that these titles are no longer available in public school libraries and classrooms. This means that if a student wishes to read a banned title, they must purchase or borrow the book from a non-school facility. This could be Amazon, Barns and Noble, Target, etc. In many cases, students will also be able to access many of these titles in a public library.

Now, public libraries are tricky. In some states, public libraries don't have too much of an issue with banned books. In others however, libraries can face serious backlash for having banned books. Libraries are government funded which means that if a state determines a book is banned, they have the ability to defund a library containing these titles. Many libraries choose to remove these titles in order to protect their jobs and funding. Ultimately, it depends on 2 factors: Is a book banned through the state and is the state strict with the banning laws. I know here in California, many titles have been classified as banned, but are still available through public libraries as it's typically only enforced in public school curriculum.

The criteria to ban a book ranges depending on the state. In most situations, a book could be flagged for containing topics such as non-heteronormative sexuality, critical race theory, anti democratic views, and non-Christian views. Basically if it hurts Christian/republican feelings it gets banned. For the sake of keeping this from getting too long, I wont go into how a book is banned, but it is important to remember what types topics tend to be targeted.

Now, to play devils advocate here I will admit I do believe there are some books that should not be in school libraries. Despite this, I think the term 'banned' is much too harsh a word to use. For instance, A Clockwork Orange is banned in California due to depictions of sexual violence, however, you can still easily find this title in libraries and book stores. The ban extends to public schools meaning that they cannot teach or offer the book to students. A Clockwork Orange is not a book I would consider appropriate to use as teaching material in classrooms when there are other books teachers can use with similar yet less adult themes.

While I fully believe we have the right to choose what books we read, I do think its important to remember that not all books are meant for children. I think it is entirely appropriate for parents and teachers to decide that a book contains themes and topics not appropriate for school age children, and limit overall access to that. It should then be individual families decisions to allow their own children to read a book that might contain sensitive topics.

Ok now to my main point:

With the recent election results, the concept of banning books will come into play a lot more. We have truly no idea what might happen and how the previous explanation of book bans will change. In my opinion, I believe that they will try to prohibit publishers and manufacturers from producing these titles which would mean it would be difficult, if not illegal, to purchase and sell banned books. While I have no idea if it will truly happen, I would like to start preparing for a situation like this. For the record, I do not think this is going to be a Fahrenheit 451 situation so obtaining physical copies of these books is likely our best bet.

If you would like to start purchasing banned books, please keep a few things in mind:

You will need the physical copy. I love my Kindle, but it is all too easy to remove a book from my library and if a strict ban is in place this could happen.

You do not need a copy of every single book. The full list is incredibly long.

Please only purchase one copy of the books you would like. I truly believe there will be a surge in purchases for these books and the point of this is to maintain widespread access to them. Hoarding 10 copies of The Great Gatsby is potentially taking away 9 peoples opportunity to have them as well.

When looking for banned books, I've been using a PDF my state posted on their website (CA Library). If you are not in California, you can find your state library website by typing '[Your state] Library' and it should be one of the first links. Again these are government funded facilities so check and make sure it has a .gov to confirm that it is the official site.

I have also been using Pen.org to identify titles that have been banned in other states, as well as get information regarding book banning.

If you would like to not sift through a long list of books here is a list of 10 books I believe are at a large risk. These are not all of the books I believe are at risk, just enough to get you started.

The Handmaids Tale

To Kill a Mocking Bird

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

All of the Hunger Games books

Brave New World

Fahrenheit 451

All of Toni Morrisons books

Gender Queer: A Memoir

Slaughterhouse 5

Animal Farm

I hate that I had to do this.

As a final note I would just like to say that this post is meant to prepare for worst case scenario. I am NOT saying this is 100% happening. I am a little bookworm with a huge respect for literature and it makes me beyond furious that the US is on the verge of attacking our right to read. I want to have copies of these books because I love them and I want to be able to pass them down to others when needed. I don't want to see them disappear from our society and I hope you don't either.

[deadpresidents]

I know World War II was going on and he probably didn't have the energy to spend on this, but it's a travesty that history doesn't actually have a photograph of FDR wearing this.

I've been reading a lot about President Ford lately, and after seeing some of the photos of what they were wearing in the White House in the mid-70s, this vest wouldn't have been out of place then.

Luella Smith of Inglewood, California sent Franklin Roosevelt this handmade button vest on January 3, 1944. In a letter that accompanied her gift she noted: “I want you to have your picture made in it and a photo sent to me to put on my stand so that I can admire my boy in the White House, I know you are busy but it sure would make me happy."

See more on our website: https://fdr.artifacts.archives.gov/objects/30602/button-vest

[thepastisalreadywritten]

What’s that elephant the Danes are wearing?

Tatler’s guide to the emblems and quirks of Denmark’s highest honour, the Order of the Elephant.

A curious little diamond-encrusted elephant, a blue sash, a gold collar – and sometimes a big flaming cape…Tatler looks into the history and tradition of Denmark's most privileged Order.

With Frederik X set to become sovereign of the Order as he becomes King on Sunday, you might see a few of these elephants around Copenhagen's royal palaces

By Isaac Zamet

12 January 2024

When Crown Prince Frederik becomes Frederik X of Denmark on Sunday, he will also replace his mother, Queen Margrethe II, as the sovereign of Denmark’s most ancient and distinguished order of chivalry, the Order of the Elephant.

Though it was officially refounded in 1693, the order dates all the way back to the 1400s, when it was established as a religious confraternity by a group of about fifty Danish knights.

In the 1400s, prior to the Reformation which gripped Europe and divided the church, such religious ‘clubs’ as the Order of the Elephant were common features of aristocratic life.

At the time of the Order of the Elephant's birth, Christian I was King of Denmark – and in fact, Norway and Sweden too, creating a personal union known as the Kalmar Union.

During this period, the emblem of the club was an image of the Virgin Mary holding her Son within a crescent moon.

This was hung from a collar formed of links in the shape of elephants.

The confraternity mutated over the centuries but endured a stifled period after the Reformation in which such clubs became suspect.

In 1580, Frederik II – eight Frederiks prior to our current Frederik – revived the order and replaced the medallion of the mother and child with an elephant (a Reformation-safe, Protestant approach – if a quirky one!).

But it was Christian V, in 1693, who gave the club its official statues and founding order.

At this time, it was scheduled as comprising 30 noble knights and one Grand Master (the King) along with his sons.

It was only in 1958 that the statutes were amended by Royal Ordinance to allow the ennoblement of women as members of the order.

Between 1580 and today, around 890 persons have been bestowed with the Order of the Elephant; with Queen Margrethe adding 68 people during her 40 year reign.

The recipients are almost always royal persons and foreign heads of state – though in a rare exception, the order was given to a commoner in 2000.

This was the deceased shipping magnate, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, who was recognised for exceptional contribution to Danish economic strength and Danish society.

Those unfamiliar with the man himself will surely recognise his name from the famous shipping containers.

The A.P. Møller – Mærsk group was actually founded in 1904 by his father. It is now worth $81bn dollars.

At the time of Møller’s membership of the order, he was the only non-royal and non-head of state to hold the honour; though it had previously been held by the pioneering nuclear physicist, Niels Bohr.

Membership of the order comes with possession of its rather eye-catching elephantine emblem.

The elephant is made of white-enamelled gold with blue housings and is about 5cm high.

On its back, the elephant bears a tower of pink enamelled masonry (a design originally intended to reflect the howdah compartments of the Indian subcontinent).

A number of large cut diamonds adorn the elephant, along with a crowned monogram of the monarch reigning when it was made.

One wonders, then, when the first Frederikian elephants will be carved.

At the top of the tower on the elephant’s back sits a gold ring, from which the badge can be hung from the collar or tied to a sash.

On the elephant's back sits a turbaned ‘moor mahout.’

It should be noted that some would regard such a depiction as an exoticising caricature.

Others would regard its appearance merely as an expression of an historical perspective.

One striking detail about the circulation of the elephants is that each Order of the Elephant is – in principle – on loan and must be returned to the Chapter of the Royal Orders of Chivalry when a member of the Order has passed away.

This rather quaint custom means that elephants are inherited and used several times by different members of the order, with some dating back hundreds of years.

Interestingly, the done thing is not to disclose to whom an Elephant has previously been given – though there are some traditional lines of inheritance.

For example, the elephant recently bestowed on Prince Christian belonged previously to his grandfather, Prince Henrik.

This handing over was always to be, on the basis of a traditional line of inheritance.

There are two exceptional elephants which have eluded the rule of the ‘loan’ – one remains in the Chancellery Museum at Paris and a second remains on display at the Dwight Eisenhower Presidential Library in the US.

Another beautiful quirk of membership of the Order is that a member’s coat of arms is always painted and subsequently hung in the Knight’s Chapel at Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød.

As to when the elephants come out to play, there are some rather interesting traditions concerning how and when to wear them.

The Order of the Elephant has three festival days: new year’s day, the monarch’s birthday, and the birthday of Valdemar the Victorious, which, if you didn’t know is on June 28.

On these festival days, the Order of the Elephant is worn on the chest on a gold chain link collar, with links shaped as towers and elephants.

The collar sits on each shoulder. On other important occasions, the order is worn on a bright blue sash with a breast star.

The star of the order is an eight-pointed silver star with smooth rays; at its centre sits an enameled red disc with a white cross, surrounded by a laurel wreath in silver.