The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum was opened to
the public on August 10,1962, Mr. Hoover's 88th birthday. In the
years since, more than 2.5 million visitors have toured the museum
and more than 2,000 scholars from every state in the union and
a dozen foreign countries have utilized the library's seven million
pages of documentary holdings. One significant result has been
an increased understanding of the life and times of America's
31st president, known around the world as the "Great Humanitarian."
In recent years, the Library-Museum has been transformed into
a nationally recognized center for the study of twentieth-century
history and the American presidency. Beginning in 1988, it has
sponsored major exhibits featuring personal memorabilia from every
U.S. President and First Lady, a pioneering look at World War
I, an unprecedented display of presidential gifts and exciting
exhibits on the "Roaring Twenties," the Civil War, and other subjects
of broad public appeal.
Simultaneously, the Library had redoubled efforts to locate and
collect documentation pertaining to the Hoover Era. 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.
The Hoover Library-Museum has welcomed many distinguished visitors
over the years, among them no fewer than seven American presidents:
Hoover, Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Reagan. Several
First Ladies have visited the Library, including Mamie Eisenhower,
Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, and most recently, Rosalynn Carter
in September 1990.
Continuing in this tradition, former President Ronald Reagan
rededicated the Library on August 8,1992. At the end of a massive
expansion and renovation project, the new Library-Museum has grown
from 32,000 to 44,500 square feet. Ten thousand square feet are
devoted to seven museum galleries telling Hoover's fifty years
of public service. Changing exhibits are displayed in the handsome
William Quarton Gallery. The redesigned Library-Museum also includes
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.
August 8, 1992 marked a dramatic conclusion to 30 years of growth.
More importantly, it paved the way for one of the region's leading
cultural and educational institutions to introduce more people
than ever before to the Great Humanitarian from West Branch.
Now, walk through the Hoover Web site by clicking on any of the
links below. You can take a quiz on Hoover's
life before and/or after your stroll. Have fun!
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