Franklin D Roosevelt made a deal with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in 1939 and asked them to take control, at the end of his term of office of his personal and presidential papers because he thought that it was important to American history.

He also donated a substantial portion of his private estate, Hyde Park in New York to the Government as well. After his death friends and supporters raised money to create an archive for these papers that formed the first Presidential Libraries.

FDR’s successor Harry S Truman followed suit and announced that he would build a Presidential Library in 1950. The supporters of Herbert Hoover who served before FDR in 1954 then decided to gather all his papers and donate them to the NARA and build a Presidential Library in his honour. A precedent had been set.

Up to date there are 13 Presidential Libraries and the 14th will be opened in 2020

It has often crossed my mind to plan a road trip around visiting these Presidential Libraries or see if there is an escorted tour that visits.

The only one I have seen is when I was in Dallas to visit Dealey Plaza and the JFK assassination. Located on the campus of the Texas A & M University, the George W Bush Presidential Library had recently opened to the public. It is hard to describe the enormous size of the campus that the library occupies a tiny corner of the manicured landscape.

The libraries are part history and part museum of each of these serving Presidents time in office.

Here is a list and location of Presidential Libraries in chronological order with links to their websites.