Presidential library facts for kids

Official seal of the presidential libraries

A presidential library is a system of thirteen libraries in the United States. It is created by the Office of Presidential Libraries, which is part of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

These are offices for preserving and making available the papers, records, collections and other historical materials of every President of the United States. The presidential library system began with Herbert Hoover's library (31st President, 1929-1933).

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is the largest of the thirteen libraries. The most recent presidential library was the George W. Bush Presidential Center which opened in Texas in 2013.

List of presidential libraries

This is a list of the presidential libraries. Denotes libraries outside the NARA Presidential Library Office (most of these Presidents pre-date the administration of Herbert Hoover). Denotes Presidential sites without libraries. Denotes library without Presidential site.

No.	President	Library name	Location	Operated By	Logo/Website
1	George Washington	Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon Opened to public September 27, 2013	Mount Vernon, Virginia	Mount Vernon Ladies' Association	_website
2	John Adams	Stone Library at Adams National Historical Park Opened to public 1870	Quincy, Massachusetts	National Park Service (NPS)	_website
3	Thomas Jefferson	Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello Opened to public 1994	Charlottesville, Virginia	Thomas Jefferson Foundation	_website
4	James Madison	Montpelier Opened to public 1984	Montpelier Station, Virginia	National Trust for Historic Preservation	_Montpelier
4	James Madison	James Madison Museum Opened to public 2013	Orange, Virginia	James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation	museum
5	James Monroe	James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library Opened to public 1966	Fredericksburg, Virginia	University of Mary Washington	_website
5	James Monroe	Highland Opened to public 1931	Simeon, Virginia	College of William and Mary	_website
6	John Quincy Adams	Stone Library at Adams National Historical Park Opened to public 1870	Quincy, Massachusetts	NPS	_website
7	Andrew Jackson	The Hermitage Opened to public 1894	Nashville, Tennessee	Andrew Jackson Foundation	_website
8	Martin Van Buren	Martin Van Buren National Historic Site Opened to public October 26, 1974	Kinderhook, New York	NPS	_website
9	William Henry Harrison	Berkeley Plantation Opened to public 1940s	Charles City, Virginia	Berkeley Plantation	_website
10	John Tyler	Sherwood Forest Plantation Opened to public 1970s	Charles City, Virginia	Sherwood Forest Plantation Foundation	_website
11	James K. Polk	President James K. Polk Home & Museum Opened to public 1929	Columbia, Tennessee	James K. Polk Memorial Association	_website
12	Zachary Taylor	Zachary Taylor National Cemetery Opened to public 1928	Louisville, Kentucky	National Cemetery Administration	_website
13	Millard Fillmore	Millard Fillmore House Opened to public 1975	East Aurora, New York	Aurora Historical Society	_website
14	Franklin Pierce	Franklin Pierce Homestead Opened to public 1920s	Hillsborough, New Hampshire	NPS	_website
15	James Buchanan	James Buchanan House Opened to public 1930s	Lancaster, Pennsylvania	NPS	_website
16	Abraham Lincoln	Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Opened to public in 2004	Springfield, Illinois	State of Illinois	_website
17	Andrew Johnson	President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library Opened to public 1993	Tusculum, Tennessee	Tusculum College	_website
18	Ulysses S. Grant	Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library Opened to public November 30, 2017	Starkville, Mississippi	Mississippi State University Library and Ulysses S. Grant Association	_website
19	Rutherford B. Hayes	Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center Opened to public 1916	Fremont, Ohio	Ohio Historical Society and Hayes Presidential Center, Inc.	_website
20	James A. Garfield	James A. Garfield National Historic Site Opened to public 1998	Mentor, Ohio	NPS and Western Reserve Historical Society	_website
21	Chester A. Arthur	Chester Alan Arthur State Historic Site Opened to public 1950s	Fairfield, Vermont	State of Vermont Historic Sites Section	_website
22 and 24	Grover Cleveland	Grover Cleveland Birthplace Opened to public March 18, 1913	Caldwell, New Jersey	NPS and Grover Cleveland Birthplace Memorial Association	_website
22 and 24	Grover Cleveland	Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library Opened to public October 16, 1976	Princeton, New Jersey	Princeton University	_website
23	Benjamin Harrison	Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site Opened to public 1970s	Indianapolis, Indiana	Arthur Jordan Foundation	_website
25	William McKinley	William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum Opened to public September 1907	Canton, Ohio	Stark County Historical Society	_website
26	Theodore Roosevelt	Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site Opened to public 1923	Manhattan, New York City, New York	NPS	_website
27	William Howard Taft	William Howard Taft National Historic Site Opened to public 1970s	Cincinnati, Ohio	NPS	_website
28	Woodrow Wilson	Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library Opened to the public in 1990	Staunton, Virginia	Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library Foundation	_website
29	Warren G. Harding	Warren G. Harding Home & Memorial Opened to the public in February 1926	Marion, Ohio	NPS	_website
30	Calvin Coolidge	Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum Opened to the public in 1956	Northampton, Massachusetts	Forbes Library	_website
30	Calvin Coolidge	President Calvin Coolidge State Historical Site Opened to the public in 1957	Plymouth Notch, Vermont	State of Vermont	_website
31	Herbert Hoover	Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum Dedication August 10, 1962 Rededicated August 8, 1992	West Branch, Iowa	National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)	_website
32	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum Dedicated June 30, 1941 Rededicated June 30, 2013	Hyde Park, New York	NARA	_website
33	Harry S. Truman	Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum Dedicated on July 6, 1957 Rededicated December 9, 2001	Independence, Missouri	NARA	_website
34	Dwight D. Eisenhower	Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home Dedicated on May 1, 1962	Abilene, Kansas	NARA	_website
35	John F. Kennedy	John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Dedicated on October 20, 1979 Rededication October 29, 1993	Boston, Massachusetts	NARA	_website
36	Lyndon B. Johnson	Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum Dedicated on May 22, 1971	Austin, Texas	NARA and The University of Texas at Austin	_website
37	Richard Nixon	Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum Dedicated on July 19, 1990 Rededicated on October 14, 2016	Yorba Linda, California	NARA and Richard Nixon Foundation	_website
38	Gerald Ford	Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum Dedicated on September 18, 1981 Rededicated April 17, 1997	Grand Rapids, Michigan	NARA	_website
38	Gerald Ford	Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library Dedicated on April 27, 1981	Ann Arbor, Michigan	NARA	_website
39	Jimmy Carter	Jimmy Carter Library and Museum Dedicated on October 1, 1986	Atlanta, Georgia	NARA	_website
40	Ronald Reagan	Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Dedicated on November 4, 1991	Simi Valley, California	NARA	_website
41	George H. W. Bush	George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum Dedicated on November 6, 1997	College Station, Texas	NARA and Texas A&M University	_website
42	Bill Clinton	William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park Dedicated on November 18, 2004	Little Rock, Arkansas	NARA	_website
43	George W. Bush	George W. Bush Presidential Center Dedicated on April 25, 2013	Dallas, Texas	NARA and Southern Methodist University	_website
44	Barack Obama	Barack Obama Presidential Center Scheduled to open in the early 2020s	Chicago, Illinois	Obama Foundation and the University of Chicago	_website