Press Release
Press Release · Thursday, November 6, 1997

Washington, DC . . . In a dedication ceremony today, the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation formally turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) the newly constructed George Bush Presidential Library and Museum. Archivist of the United States John W. Carlin accepted the key to the building from John Ellis "Jeb" Bush, president of the Bush Library Foundation. The Library and Museum are located on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station, Texas.

The Bush Library, which is the tenth Presidential library administered by NARA, is the second Presidential library in the state of Texas. The Lyndon B. Johnson Library is located in Austin on the University of Texas campus. The Presidential libraries are built with private funds and then donated to the Federal Government to operate and maintain. Associated with each library are private foundations/organizations which support many activities at the libraries including outreach and public programs, research grants, conferences symposia and museum exhibits.

David E. Alsobrook, who has served as the Acting Director of the Bush Materials Project since its inception in January 1993, was named Director of the Library and Museum in April 1997. A member of the NARA staff since 1977, Dr. Alsobrook directed the move of the Bush materials from Washington, DC, to College Station. Prior to that time, he served as NARA’s liaison with the White House. From 1981 to 1991, he served as the supervisory archivist for the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum. During the Carter Administration, he served as an archivist in the NARA Liaison Office in the Old Executive Office building and participated in the Carter move to Atlanta in 1981. Dr. Alsobrook received a Ph.D in history and archives administration from Auburn University.

The 69,000 square foot Bush Presidential Library and Museum will preserve and make accessible 38 million pages of documents, one million photographs, thousands of sound and video recordings and 40,000 heads-of-state and domestic gifts chronicling the Bush Presidential Administration. Records relating to the President’s many years in public service as Vice President, U.S. Congressman, chief of the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing, China, and director of the Central Intelligence Agency are also among the materials that will be preserved at the Library. The research rooms will open to the public on January 20, 1998. Materials not subject to any restrictions in the Presidential Records Act of 1978, will become available five years after the President leaves office or upon completion of archival processing.

The exhibitions at the Museum will draw on this vast collection of unique documentation to create interactive exhibitions highlighting the life career of President Bush. Other features of the facility are a specially designed classroom using computer software and other capabilities to develop an appreciation of American history and the role of the Presidency for secondary school students.

The nine other libraries administered by NARA are: the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, CA; the Jimmy Carter Library in Atlanta, GA; the Gerald Ford Library in Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids, MI; the Lyndon Johnson Library in Austin, TX; the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, MA; the Dwight Eisenhower Library in Abilene, KS; the Harry S Truman Library in Independence, MO; the Franklin Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, NY; and the Herbert Hoover Library in West Branch, IA.

Currently, more than 1.2 million visitors tour the Presidential libraries annually. In addition, last year, research rooms at the libraries hosted nearly 13,000 research visits.

For Press information about the Bush Presidential Library or other Presidential libraries, contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at (301) 837-1700.

For additional PRESS information, please contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at (301) 837-1700 or e-mail Susan Cooper at public.affairs@nara.gov.

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