National Archives Loans Historic Documents to Presidential Libraries for America’s 250th Exhibitions


The National Archives has announced that it will temporarily loan more than 30 historic documents, records and artifacts held in storage vaults in Washington, DC to support exhibitions at America’s Presidential Libraries celebating the Semiquincentennial in 2026.

This project will offer the National Archives’ ongoing exhibition series Opening the Vault to a national audience, and will provide Presidential Library visitors with special and exceptionally rare opportunities to get up close to important records that have shaped the nation.

Documents going on display will differ at each Presidential Library and will include:

• Thomas Edison's Patent Application for the Light Bulb, 1880
• Statue of Liberty’s Deed of Gift from the People of France, 1884
• 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that ended slavery, 1865
• FDR’s handwritten “date which will live in infamy” speech draft, 1941
• the document officializing the surrender of Germany in World War II, 1945
• a letter from Jackie Robinson to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1958

Hosting these exhibitions will be:

• Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri
• Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas
• John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts
• Lyndon Johnson Presidential Library and Museum in Austin, Texas
• Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California
• Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan
• Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California
• George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas
• William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas
• George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Texas