The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library is the first of our nation’s presidential libraries. Built under President Roosevelt’s direction during 1939-40, FDR conceived it as an institution to preserve intact all of his papers from a lifetime of public service, his personal library, and his vast collection of memorabilia. The Roosevelt Library is the only presidential library ever used by a sitting president. FDR visited the Library often during World War II to sort and classify his records and memorabilia. From his study in the Library Roosevelt delivered several of his famous “fireside chats.”
Prior to Roosevelt, the final disposition of Presidential papers was left to chance. Part of the Presidential Library system of the National Archives and Records Administration, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum is committed to providing ready access to essential evidence that documents the rights of American citizens, the actions of Federal officials, and the national experience. The Library itself is built of Hudson Valley fieldstone in the style reminiscent of the local Dutch colonial architecture that FDR favored. He was intimately involved in the building’s design, which he had built with $376,000 in privately donated funds on a site adjacent to his home on his Hyde Park estate.
The Library houses more than 17 million pages of documents, audio-visual materials, historical museum objects, and books, including FDR’s personal collection of more than 14,000 volumes. Mrs. Roosevelt’s papers, as well those of more than 200 of their associates, are also housed in the Roosevelt Library, making it the world’s premier research center for the study of the New Deal and World War II. It serves more than 600 scholars a year who visit the Library’s research room and 125,000 museum and student visitors. The Library’s award-winning website ( www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu ) features an ever-growing collection of digitized documents and photographs. It attracts nearly 4 million “hits” a year from students, teachers, and historical researchers. Educational programs at the Library itself include curriculum-based student programming, lectures and conferences, special exhibits, and public events.
Through the use of documents, photographs, historic memorabilia, and multimedia technology, the Library’s museum exhibits explore the lives of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and that turbulent period of our nation’s history from the Great Depression through World War II.
In donating his papers to the Library, Roosevelt established the precedent for public ownership of presidential papers, which became federal law in 1978. Moreover, in founding his Library, FDR created today’s Presidential Libraries system, which administers the Roosevelt Library through the National Archives and Records Administration. The Library takes seriously its mission as set forth by President Roosevelt, “to bring together the records of the past…where they will be preserved for the use of men and women living in the future.”
Director:
Cynthia M. Koch
Phone: (845) 486-7770
Fax: (845) 486-1147
E-mail:
roosevelt.library@nara.gov
Website:
www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu
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The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library
and Museum
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Photo Credit: FDR Presidential Library.
The President's Study
in the FDR Library. Photo Credit: FDR Presidential Library.