The Dallas Morning News: As the competition for the George W. Bush presidential library heats up, interest in White House history could be cooling off.
Attendance at most presidential libraries and museums is down – way down, in some cases. The number of visitors is declining at eight of the 11 libraries. And the National Archives and Records Administration is trying to figure out why. The federal agency that operates the Presidential Library System has launched a multiyear market research project aimed at raising the libraries’ profiles and at uncovering what draws people to presidential history.
Monuments to Vanity
A major reason why Presidential libraries are declining in interest is that they are monuments to vanity, and not to research. Often coupled with museums of the president and his wife, they are scattered all around the nation, and are mostly inaccessible to researchers on a limited budget. To study American history and the presidencies of the 1960s, one would have to travel from Abilene, Kansas (Eisenhower) to Boston, MA (Kennedy) to Austin, Texas (Johnson) to Yorba Linda, CA (Nixon).
It would be much better, from a research perspective, to have the collections in the National Archives and Library of Congress. That way, research can be done at one time. Having to travel all across the country to visit collections is silly, and a sop to vanity.
Several reasons
I don’t have proof, but I suspect that there are several reasons for this phenomenon. As Lee pointed out, part of the problem is so-called ‘geographical undesirability’. Additionally, the all-over economy is barely rolling along, and museum/library visits are affected by this as Americans consider these a non-essential expense.
I spoke to a fellow at the National Archives exhibit at PLA, who informed me that although the archives budget has not diminished over the years, it hasn’t increased either. It’s held level and government spending for presidential libraries is most likely the same deal. Of course it costs more money these days to collect/maintain/exhibit books and materials etc., than it did in the past and that money is not being appropriated. I mean, what are they going to do with the National Archives…they can’t exactly throw it all out with the recycling.
The essential question is this: what exactly are our priorities? Passing on our great history to our children should be a priority, along with assuring their future in a state of freedom, health and well-being. Too much federal money is being spent on an invalid war that should never have begun, and not enough on health, education, culture and welfare.