Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum

Infobox presidential library
name =Herbert Hoover Presidential Library

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location = West Branch, Iowa, USA
construction_start_date =
completion_date =
dedication_date =August 10, 1962
rededication_date = August 8, 1992
named_for =Herbert Hoover
number_of_exhibits =
architect =
size =44,500 square feet
cost_amount =
manager =National ArchivesThe Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum is the Presidential library of Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States. Located in West Branch, Iowa next to the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, the library is one of twelve presidential libraries run by the National Archives and Records Administration.

The convert|32000|sqft|m2|sing=on library was officially opened to the public on August 10, 1962, Hoover's 88th birthday. [http://www.hoover.archives.gov/visiting/welcome.html] . President Hoover and former President Harry Truman were present at the dedication where Hoover recited the following:

"When the members of the Congress created these presidential libraries they did a great public service. They made available for research the records of vital periods in American history - and they planted these records in the countryside instead of allowing their concentration on the seaboard.Already the three libraries of President Roosevelt, President Truman, and President Eisenhower, by their unique documentation, serve this purpose, and today we dedicate a fourth - my own.Within them are thrilling records of supreme action by the American people, their devotion and sacrifice to their ideals.Santayana rightly said: 'Those who do not remember the past are condemned to relive it.' These institutions are the repositories of such experience - hot off the griddle. In these records there are no doubt, unfavorable remarks made by our political opponents, as well as expressions of appreciation and affection by our friends. We may hope that future students will rely upon our friends. In any event, when they become sleepy they may be awakened by the lightning flashes of American political humor." [http://www.ecommcode.com/hoover/hooveronline/HooverCRB/CRBIntro.html]

On August 8, 1992, former President Ronald Reagan rededicated the Hoover Library. The rededication was the result of a massive renovation project which expanded the library to convert|44500|sqft|m2. Among the additions to the library were a 180-seat auditorium, a multi-purpose room accommodating 60, a conference room that seats 30, and a private meeting room designed for 15 people. The $8-million facelift was very much a public-private partnership, with Washington supplying $5 million for bricks and mortar, supplementing some $3 million raised by the Hoover Presidential Library Association for new exhibits and educational programming. [http://hoover.archives.gov/visiting/welcome.html]

In addition to the papers of Herbert Hoover, the manuscript holdings include those of Lewis Strauss, Gerald P. Nye, Felix Morley, Clark Mollenhoff, Robert E. Wood, Westbrook Pegler, and Laura Ingalls Wilder, among others. More that 150 collections make the Library an important center for the study of conservative journalistic thought, agricultural economics, famine relief, atomic energy, and governmental reorganization. [http://www.hoover.archives.gov/visiting/welcome.html]

Located several hundred feet behind the Library are the above ground white marble vaults of President Herbert Hoover and First Lady Lou Henry Hoover. The Hoovers rest in a large green area, with the backing semicircle constructed of a high hedgerow. Lou Henry Hoover was originally buried in Palo Alto, California, after her death from a heart attack at only 69, but upon her husband's death in 1964, she was re-interred at the Library

The Hoover Library is located next to the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, which contains Hoover's birth house and Hoover's father's blacksmith shop.

External links

* [http://hoover.archives.gov/ The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum]