Presidential library system
network of research libraries with the collection of a U.S. president's papers
The United States presidential library system is a nationwide network of 16 libraries administered by the Office of Presidential Libraries, which is part of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). These are repositories for preserving and making available the papers, records, collections and other historical materials of every president of the United States since Herbert Hoover (31st president, 1929–1933). In addition to the library services, museum exhibitions concerning the presidency are displayed.
Although recognized as having historical significance, before the mid-20th century presidential papers and effects were generally understood to be the private property of the president. Franklin D. Roosevelt (32nd president, 1933–1945) proposed to leave his papers to the public in a building donated by him on his Hyde Park, New York, estate. Since then, a series of laws established the public keeping of documents and the presidential library system. These laws now seek to create a public archive library for each presidential term, with NARA taking control of the library documents immediately upon expiration of a term of office. Additional provisions govern when the documents are made available to the public. While not sanctioned and maintained by NARA, libraries and museums have also been organized for several presidents who preceded Hoover and the official start of the Presidential Library Office.
The sites in the 20th century were called, "presidential library and museum", but those built in the 21st century are called, presidential center.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1546583. The first chronological checks are 1929, 1933 and 1945.
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This entry incorporates text from “Presidential library system” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.