A Guide to the Presidential Libraries

Franklin Roosevelt built the first presidential library in 1939, funding it himself and then handing it to the National Archives, creating the model for the modern system. More than a dozen libraries now stretch from Hoover to recent administrations, usually in the home states of the presidents. The Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley is the largest and most visited, housing the Boeing 707 that flew as Air Force One for seven presidents.

The Kennedy Library in Boston, designed by I. M. Pei, holds the Hemingway collection alongside the Kennedy papers.

Private donations pay for construction, and federal law keeps the presidential papers public..