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Presidential libraries: from Boston to Honolulu ... or maybe Chicago

Presidential libraries can be found coast to coast, and may even go beyond that once a site is selected for President Obama's future repository of documents and artifacts. To quickly hopscotch around to the 13 official presidential libraries and museums overseen by the National Archives, plus that of Abraham Lincoln, check out this library list.

3. Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum

AP/File
In this file photo, President Harry S. Truman holds up for the benefit of the throng that turned out to greet him at St. Louis' Union Station Nov. 4, 1948, a copy of the Chicago Tribune, published early election night with the headline 'Dewey Defeats Truman.' The President told the crowd:'That is one for the books!'

  • By Ross Atkin Staff writer

Website: www.trumanlibrary.org/

Location: Independence, Mo. (Truman's birthplace: Lamar, Mo., in 1884)

Opened: 1957

Attendance: approximately 70,000

Admission: $8 adults; $7 seniors

Bestselling gift shop biography: “Truman” by David McCullough

Hot-selling souvenir item: “The Buck Stops Here” desk sign

Lesser-known facts: Mr. Truman worked in his office at the library five days a week for almost 10 years after it opened in 1957.  He taught the early docents how to give tours of the exhibits. … Harry and Bess Truman, their daughter Margaret, and her husband are all buried in the courtyard.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

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We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

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