PERSONAL PAPERS AND CORRESPONDENCE

Public Law 85-147 gave the Library of Congress authority for the Presidential Papers Program, a program to preserve and make presidential papers accessible. The Manuscript Divison of the Library of Congress indexed and filmed over two million manuscripts as part of this program. The indexes and microfilm reels are housed in many research libraries across the country, including Yale University.

The presidential papers collections are mainly composed of letters to and from the President. Also included are diaries, financial papers, applications for office, and other miscellaneous items. The collections are generally divided into series according to the types of papers (legal, financial, military, etc.).

The Library of Congress has begun to make the complete George Washington Papers available on the American Memory site. Documents include correspondence, letterbooks, diaries, journals, books, military records, and reports and notes Washington accumulated between 1741 and 1799.

Listed in the table below are the call numbers for the indexes/guides and location of the microfilm/paper holdings in Sterling Memorial Library.

Beginning with Herbert Hoover, each President has a "presidential library" which contains the papers and files of the respective president as well as correspondence of the presidents and their associates.