Lyndon Baines Johnson Library & Museum

Johnson Presidential Library Logo (since 2014)

Interior of the museum

Lyndon B. Johnson with his wife Lady Bird Johnson in front of the museum building, March 1971

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library & Museum ( LBJ Library & Museum for short ) is a facility, consisting of a library and a museum that deals with the US President Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) , who was in office from 1963 to 1969 . It is located in Austin, Texas , about 53 miles east of President Johnson's birthplace, Stonewall , Texas . The facility has around 250,000 visitors per year.

Description and history

The museum opened in 1971 after a construction period of around two years. The renowned American architecture firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill was commissioned with the planning . In 2013 the museum was extensively restored and the exhibitions modernized. The exhibition building itself has ten floors, and there is a park nearby, the so-called Lyndon Baines Johnson National Park . It is one of 13 presidential libraries to date and is administered by the National Archives and Records Administration (an institute for the protection and preservation of historical and government documents). The library has more than 45 million pages of historical documents as well as around 650,000 photos and historical film material on Lyndon B. Johnson, his family and close associates. The museum shows the exhibition America: 1908 - 1973 , which tells Johnson's life story, which is also in the context of the history of the USA . The museum exposes photographs, letters, music and other media material about Lyndon Baines Johnson. Admission is free, and various guided tours are also offered. There is also a souvenir shop in the museum.

Political events are held regularly in the library. For example, in February 2011, former President Jimmy Carter visited the facility.

Quote

On the day of the LBJ Library & Museum's inauguration, May 22, 1971, Lyndon B. Johnson announced:

"I hope that the visitors who come here will gain a better understanding of the presidency and that the young people who come here will have a better understanding of what this nation has been trying to do during an eventful period in its history."

- Lyndon Baines Johnson , 1971