8 Presidential Libraries That Bring History to Life

More than 100 years after he left office, Theodore Roosevelt became the latest president to get a presidential library on July 4, 2026. The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is perched on a rocky butte in the Badlands of North Dakota near Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Designed by the Norwegian firm Snøhetta, it’s the first carbon-neutral presidential library and fits seamlessly into the rugged landscape where a young T.R. found his calling.

Like the Obama Presidential Center, the Teddy Roosevelt library is run by a nonprofit organization, not the National Archives and Records Administration. While the library does not house Roosevelt's presidential papers, visitors can explore Roosevelt’s political career and personal story through several AI-powered exhibits, including “Talk to TR,” an interactive avatar of the former president.

“We have created the world's first presidential archive in AI,” Edward O'Keefe, CEO of the library, told CBS News. “Participants can come here to the TR Library and have an in-person conversation with an avatar of T.R.”

Another AI-powered exhibit, “Run Your Own Presidency,” challenges visitors to put themselves in Roosevelt’s shoes and make their own decisions about the Panama Canal, the 1902 coal strike, the Pure Food and Drug Act and other critical moments. The technology draws on primary sources from Roosevelt’s papers to provide information and advice in the president’s own voice.

The towering modern structure on Chicago’s South Side is a monument to America’s first Black president and to the ideals his presidency sought to advance, but it’s not technically a presidential library. The Obama Center was privately funded (at an estimated cost of $850 million) and is run by the Obama Foundation, not the National Archives and Records Administration. Obama’s official National Archives presidential records remain under the custody of NARA, with archival operations based in the Washington, D.C., area.

The Obama Center is intended as a community resource with basketball courts, ball fields, gardens, a playground and a branch of the Chicago Public Library. Inside the eight-story museum, visitors explore the history of slavery and the Civil Rights Movement, learn more about Barack and Michelle Obama’s childhoods and families, and then relive the history-making excitement of Election Night 2008.

Highlights of the museum include an exhibit featuring 440 colorful campaign buttons crowdsourced from supporters, including many homemade creations, a flag given to Obama by the Navy SEALs who killed Osama bin Laden and a series of intricate dioramas showing White House scenes in miniature.

Truman’s library, the first built under the auspices of the Presidential Libraries Act, was also the first to include a replica of the Oval Office, still a popular exhibit. Visitors can also see Truman’s famous desk sign, “The Buck Stops Here!”—crafted by inmates at the Federal Reformatory in El Reno, Oklahoma—and view the magnificent Thomas Hart Benton mural “Independence and the Opening of the West.”

As the first presidential library managed by the National Archives and Records Administration, the Truman Library contains every scrap of material saved from his presidency, including a diary entry from July 25, 1945, in which Truman wrote: "We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world . . . This weapon is to be used against Japan between now and August 10th." Hufbauer points out that the presidential archives kept by NARA aren’t just for journalists and historians. They’re for everyone.

“If you have a legitimate research question, you can make an appointment and these professional archivists will help you explore the raw materials of history, no charge,” says Hufbauer.

Housed in a 10-story limestone tower on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, the LBJ Presidential Library was designed by award-winning architect Gordon Bunshaft. Visitors enter through the Great Hall, which features the library’s glass-enclosed archives containing more than 45 million pages, 650,000 photos and 5,000 hours of audio recordings from Johnson’s presidency.

Among the most popular exhibits is a full-size animatronic President Johnson that regales visitors with his homespun humor and stories. There’s also an interactive photo exhibit where visitors can experience the “Johnson Treatment,” how the towering politician used bullying and flattery to win votes in Congress.

When the Nixon library opened in 1990, it was privately operated without the participation of the National Archives and Records Administration. Unburdened by NARA’s curatorial standards, the museum included a Watergate exhibit claiming that Nixon was the victim of a “coup” by his political enemies and featured a highly edited version of the 1972 “smoking gun” tape.

Now under NARA administration, the museum was overhauled in the late 2000s by historian Timothy Naftali and serves as the official archive of the Nixon presidency, warts and all. Today, visitors can tour Army One, the presidential helicopter that that whisked Nixon from the White House lawn after his resignation in 1974, and relive “The Week That Changed the World,” when Nixon made his historic visit to China in 1972.

Jimmy Carter is the prime example of a president who remade his image after leaving office, mainly through the humanitarian work of the Carter Center, which shares a 35-acre campus with the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.

“Carter had a pretty shaky presidency and was not popular when he left office,” says Hufbauer. "But a few decades later, he’s considered one of the most admired American presidents because of the post-presidency work that he ran from the Carter Center.”

In the library and museum, visitors can watch a behind-the-scenes film chronicling a day in the life of the president. They can also step inside a replica of Carter's Oval Office and see his Nobel Peace Prize, which he won in 2002. There’s also an interactive table where visitors can travel the world with the Carter Center as the organization works to fight disease and promote democracy.

Ronald Reagan’s presidential library receives more visitors than any other in the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) system, reflecting his enduring popularity as one of America’s most popular recent presidents. Both Reagan and his wife, Nancy, are also buried on the grounds, making it a pilgrimage destination for admirers of “the Gipper.”

Among its unique attractions is the Ronald Reagan Hologram, an eerily lifelike recreation of Reagan on the campaign trail, in the Oval Office and relaxing at his California ranch. Visitors can also walk through Air Force One, the “flying White House,” and deliver their own inaugural address behind a presidential podium.

The presidency of George W. Bush was indelibly marked by the tragedy of 9/11 and the wars that followed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those events take center stage at the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the campus of Southern Methodist University, where visitors can touch a nearly 17-foot piece of mangled steel from the World Trade Center that was struck during the September 11 attacks and see the bullhorn Bush used during his Ground Zero address.

One of the more interesting interactive exhibits is the “Decision Points” theater. Here, visitors are placed in the president’s shoes as he receives advice about how to respond to the 2008 financial crisis, respond to Hurricane Katrina and decide whether to order the invasion of Iraq.

"Audience members get to vote,” says Hufbauer.

On the lighter side, visitors can learn all about the Bush family dogs, Barney and Miss Beazley, two Scottish Terriers who lived in the White House. Barney was the first "First Dog" with his own website.