The Presidential Libraries are not libraries in the strictest sense. They are repositories of Presidential documents, but structured the way they are, administered by the National Archives and built with private money, they often have adjoining museums that focus uniquely on the life and times of a particular individual.
While all of these libraries are magnificent, and the museums very well done, there are varying degrees of convenience for the visitor. The John F. Kennedy Library on Columbia Point in Boston, or the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Austin, Texas, can feel somewhat frustrating to the historic traveler in that they do not assemble the complete legacy of their respective Presidents in one place. John F. Kennedy's birthplace, for example, is on the other side of town in Brookline, while his body rests in Arlington National Cemetery, some 500 miles away. Lyndon Johnson is buried on the grounds of the LBJ Ranch 50 miles from Austin.
Sometimes the decision to split things up is deliberate. Gerald Ford, for example, chose to have his library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and his museum in Grand Rapids, more than 100 miles away. While there certainly may be merits to the strategy, such scatterings make it a wee bit harder to get a complete picture of the man. Other Chief Executives besides Ford - Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George H.W. Bush - are very much alive, so we can visit their libraries and museums, but we don't yet get a true package deal.
Still, there are several Presidential libraries that combine library and museum and burial place and often a home. These one-stop libraries, if you will, often situated in remote areas that reflect a President's humble roots, can thus become places of pilgrimage for people to both learn about the President and pay their respects.
The first true presidential library complex is not actually a part of the Presidential Library system, and in fact predates the system by more than forty years. In 1912, the relatives of President Rutherford B. Hayes broke ground the Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont, Ohio. The center contains all the modern package elements: the President's home, Spiegel Grove; a library; a museum; and the gravesite of the President and First Lady. While certainly not as glitzy as the future versions, the center nevertheless has all the prototypical elements and has recently undergone renovation. The museum is devoted to the special events in Hayes' life and contains an exhibit on the work of Lucy Webb Hayes, one of the first activist First Ladies.
