College and Research Libraries


"Me and Libraries" 
By H A R R Y S. T R U M A N 

T H A V E A L W A Y S H A D a n i n t e r e s t i n books. W h e n I was a boy I was s o m e t h i n g 
of a b o o k w o r m , i n p a r t because m y eyesight k e p t m e o u t of a g o o d m a n y 

g a m e s a n d sports. A b o u t t h e only t h i n g they ever used m e f o r i n a back-lot 
ball g a m e was to b e a n u m p i r e . T h e y d i d t h a t because I c o u l d n ' t see, a n d 
I t h i n k a lot of u m p i r e s a r e i n t h e same fix today. 

W h e n I was a b o u t seven or e i g h t years old, m a y b e t e n , my m o t h e r p u r -
chased a set of books, f o u r g r e a t b i g v o l u m e s t h a t a r e d o w n i n m y I n d e p e n d -
e n c e l i b r a r y n o w . T h e y a r e called The Lives of Great Men and Famous 
Women. T h e y cover all of t h a t m o d e r n history w h i c h was n o t c o v e r e d by 
G r e e n e a n d G u i z o t a n d those p e o p l e . M y m o t h e r used to sit u p a n d r e a d p o e t r y 
to my b r o t h e r , m y sister, a n d myself. She w o u l d r e a d T e n n y s o n , o r Shake-
speare, or R o b e r t B u r n s . ( S o m e t i m e s we h a d a t e r r i b l e t i m e t r y i n g t o u n d e r -
s t a n d w h a t B o b b y was t a l k i n g a b o u t , b u t it m a d e m i g h t y musical r e a d i n g any-
way.) 

A n d I used t o r e a d myself. By t h e t i m e I was twelve or f o u r t e e n years o l d 
I h a d r e a d every b o o k i n t h e I n d e p e n d e n c e L i b r a r y , i n c l u d i n g t h e encyclo-
pedias, a n d — b e l i e v e it or n o t — I h a p p e n to r e m e m b e r some. I r e a l l y d i d r e a d 
practically all t h e books. T h o s e books h a d a g r e a t i n f l u e n c e o n m e . S o m e 
t h a t I r e m e m b e r w e r e lives of t h e g r e a t m e n of history. I n a d d i t i o n to all of 
those h i s t o r i c a l t h i n g s t h e r e w e r e a g r e a t m a n y o t h e r books in t h e I n d e p e n d -
e n c e L i b r a r y , a n d t h e r e w e r e some books I r e a d w h i c h w e r e n ' t t h e r e , c e r t a i n 
p a p e r b a c k books w h i c h sold f o r a n i c k e l apiece. T h e y w e r e called " D i a m o n d 
D i c k ' s , " a n d they w e r e r i g h t g o o d . A n d I r e a d w e s t e r n stories a b o u t t h e g r e a t 
J o h n C. F r e m o n t , " B u f f a l o Bill," " W i l d B i l l " H i c k o k , a n d all of t h e rest of 
t h e m . You see, even w h e n t h e r e w e r e n o t any g o o d , h a r d - b o u n d books avail-
a b l e , w e always m a n a g e d to find s o m e t h i n g t o r e a d — u p in t h e b a r n , if w e 
c o u l d n ' t r e a d it a n y w h e r e else. 

You c a n see I owe a g r e a t d e a l to t h e p u b l i c l i b r a r y of t h e City of I n d e -
p e n d e n c e , a n d to p u b l i c l i b r a r i e s i n g e n e r a l . I h a v e always h a d a g r e a t d e a l 
of respect a n d a d m i r a t i o n f o r t h e m e n a n d w o m e n w h o w o r k i n l i b r a r i e s 
a n d w h o m a k e t h e k n o w l e d g e a n d t h e e x p e r i e n c e c o n t a i n e d i n t h e w o r l d of 
books a v a i l a b l e to t h e p u b l i c . A l o n g w i t h t h e teachers of o u r y o u t h , you per-
f o r m a very g r e a t p u b l i c service. 

I t was a g r e a t m a n y years ago t h a t I first k n e w a p u b l i c l i b r a r y . T h e p u b l i c 

"Me and Libraries" is adapted from the address made by President Harry S. Tru-
man at the ALA conference in Kansas City, June 27, 1957. 



library m o v e m e n t has g r o w n a n d flour-
ished since t h a t time so t h a t now, I 
u n d e r s t a n d , t h e r e are n o t nearly e n o u g h 
libraries a n d t r a i n e d l i b r a r i a n s to meet 
the d e m a n d . Libraries are o n e of the 
fine things of this country. Even o n e of 
o u r old " p i r a t e s " w h o m a d e so m a n y mil-
lions h e d i d n ' t k n o w really how m u c h 
he was w o r t h , w h e n his conscience got 
to h u r t i n g him, began to give o u t librar-
ies. I'll say to you t h a t was a very great 
thing. I t awakened a great m a n y commu-
nities t h a t otherwise w o u l d n ' t have o n e 
to the necessity for a library. 

I was very sorry to h e a r t h a t the appro-
p r i a t i o n for the L i b r a r y Services Act 
h a d b e e n cut in the Congress of the 
U n i t e d States f r o m a n a u t h o r i z a t i o n of 
seven a n d a half m i l l i o n dollars to three 
millions, b u t the m e n w h o are interested 
in the e d u c a t i o n of the c o u n t r y a n d in 
the welfare of the library p a r t of t h a t 
e d u c a t i o n have succeeded in g e t t i n g it 
back to five. T h e r e were a half-dozen 
Senators w h e n I was there (and most of 
t h e m are still there) w h o were vitally 
interested in the e d u c a t i o n of the coun-
try. E d u c a t i o n is the f u n d a m e n t a l basis 
on w h i c h a free g o v e r n m e n t is f o u n d e d . 
W h e n people k n o w the facts, w h e n they 
k n o w w h a t ' s going on, w h e n they under-
stand j u s t w h a t the m e a n i n g of this a n d 
t h a t is, you can be very sure t h a t they 
usually d o the r i g h t thing. I t h i n k I con-
clusively proved this in 1948. 

A n y t h i n g I can do to h e l p in the af-
fairs of e d u c a t i o n f o r the welfare of the 
rising generation, t h a t ' s w h a t I a m going 
to s p e n d t h e rest of my life trying to do. 
I a m going to tell the coming g e n e r a t i o n 
t h a t this g o v e r n m e n t , the greatest gov-
e r n m e n t in the history of the world, is 
theirs, t h a t they are responsible f o r it. 
W e talk a b o u t the power of the govern-
m e n t . It's in the i n d i v i d u a l . T h a t ' s w h a t 
makes o u r c o u n t r y great. W h e n you as an 
i n d i v i d u a l neglect y o u r rights as a citi-
zen to see t h a t you get the r i g h t sort of 
g o v e r n m e n t , you get just what's coming 

to you. I d o n ' t feel sorry for you a bit. 
W h e n you sit a r o u n d a n d howl a b o u t 
the g o v e r n m e n t a n d t h e n fail to go vote, 
it's your own f a u l t . 

I w a n t o u r younger g e n e r a t i o n — t h e s e 
youngsters in h i g h schools or the first 
year or two of college—to u n d e r s t a n d 
w h a t a fine g o v e r n m e n t they have. A n d 
I ' m in the position (I'm bragging a lit-
tle bit now) to tell t h e m just exactly 
w h a t they have. I've h a d everything in 
the g i f t of the people f r o m precinct to 
Presidency, a n d w h a t m o r e experience d o 
you w a n t if you w a n t to find o u t a b o u t 
the government? I ' m h e r e to tell t h e m 
a b o u t it. 

I a m vitally interested in w h a t you are 
doing. O n e of the greatest assets this 
country has is its free p u b l i c libraries. I 
w a n t to see as m a n y of t h e m as possible. 
I w a n t to m a k e them accessible to the 
people w h o can use them. It's terribly 
h a r d for a m a n w h o works all day to go 
way i n t o the center of town to get a book 
h e wants to read. H e o u g h t to be able 
to go across the street a n d get it. T h a t ' s 
w h a t I h o p e you all work for. I'll h e l p 
you all I can. I d o n ' t k n o w t h a t it will 
a m o u n t to m u c h because my s i t u a t i o n 
now is j u s t t h a t of a r e t i r e d f a r m e r f r o m 
Missouri. I d o n ' t have m u c h influence 
any more, b u t if I have any, it's going to 
be centered o n aid to e d u c a t i o n a n d to 
the welfare of the rising g e n e r a t i o n so 
t h a t they can a p p r e c i a t e w h a t they have. 

It's a n interesting s i t u a t i o n to study 
w h a t a President of the U n i t e d States 
has to do. It is the most p o w e r f u l a n d 
the greatest office in the world. T h e r e 
was never a d i c t a t o r n o r an e m p e r o r w h o 
has s h o u l d e r e d such responsibilities as 
t h e President of the U n i t e d States. I 
d o n ' t care w h o is President, he's going 
to have my sympathy as long as I live, 
because I k n o w w h a t he is u p against. 
I w a n t the rest of you to feel exactly 
the same way. It's your c o u n t r y a n d your 
g o v e r n m e n t . O n e of the b e a u t i f u l things 
a b o u t this most p o w e r f u l j o b in the his-

100 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



tory of the world is t h a t it is the g i f t of 
you a n d you a n d you, the g i f t of the 
people; that's w h a t makes it so fine. 

If you t h i n k it's a cinch job—well, 
just to give you o n e instance: T h e last 
year we were in the W h i t e House-—(We 
moved back there, you know, a f t e r it 
was r e h a b i l i t a t e d . It was just a b o u t to 
fall down. T h e architects said it was 
s t a n d i n g u p there only f r o m h a b i t , t h a t 
it should have fallen d o w n a long time 
ago. T h a t ' s a fact. You never saw any-
thing like it. T h o s e old beams were rot-
ten a n d ready to fall down.) Well, as I 
started to tell you, there are receptions, 
a n d people come f o r the p u r p o s e of tak-
ing a look at the a n i m a l w h o occupies 
the W h i t e House. T h e r e were fifty thou-
sand people, by count, w i t h w h o m Mrs. 
T r u m a n h a d to shake hands. I shook 
h a n d s w i t h twenty-five t h o u s a n d a n d 
dodged the rest, b u t she c o u l d n ' t get o u t 
of it. Somebody h a d to d o it. T h a t gives 
you just one instance in which the Pres-
ident is b u r d e n e d . It used to be they 
would have New Year receptions at the 
W h i t e House, a n d sometimes the Presi-
d e n t w o u l d stand a n d shake h a n d s w i t h 
five t h o u s a n d people. T h e y f o u n d they 

c o u l d n ' t d o that, a n d they d o n ' t d o t h a t 
any more. W h a t they d o is certainly 
e n o u g h . 

B u t the President's life is n o t all trou-
bles. H e can have just as m u c h f u n as 
the rest of you, always r e m e m b e r i n g t h a t 
everything he does has to be d o n e for 
the interest of the country. A f t e r he is 
elected he represents all of the people of 
the country. H e is the h e a d of his polit-
ical party, b u t as President of the U n i t e d 
States he has to represent everybody as 
best he can. 

T h e next time any of you is here, I 
trust you will m a k e a special p o i n t to 
come o u t a n d take a look at t h a t institu-
tion over in I n d e p e n d e n c e t h a t is k n o w n 
as my library. I'll be o u t there myself, 
and, as usual, my door w o n ' t be slammed 
in your face. If you w a n t to come in a n d 
waste my time, I'll be glad to waste yours 
a n d look at the library w i t h you. I like 
a n interval once in a while, a n d I like to 
talk to people. 

T h i s library is n o t p r i m a r i l y a library 
of books. It is essentially a library of 
archives—historical d o c u m e n t s — a place 
to preserve a n d m a k e available the files 
a n d records of the Presidency as it w e n t 
along d u r i n g the time I was there. 

I t will also contain a great many o t h e r 
things. I have a t r e m e n d o u s n u m b e r of 
records of a certain Senate committee 
which was k n o w n as the C o m m i t t e e to 
Investigate the N a t i o n a l Defense Pro-
gram. T h e c h a i r m a n s h i p of t h a t commit-
tee got me i n t o all sorts of trouble. I 
w o u n d u p by being the presiding officer 
of the Senate and, finally, going to the 
W h i t e House. If I h a d n ' t spent so m u c h 
time on t h a t committee, I ' d still be in 
the Senate, a n d that's where I ' d r a t h e r 
be t h a n anywhere else in the world. 

I n a d d i t i o n to those Senate records 
there are a great m a n y records of county 
g o v e r n m e n t here in Jackson C o u n t y . For 
ten years I was the presiding officer of 
the administrative end of the g o v e r n m e n t 
of Jackson C o u n t y which, at t h a t time, 

MARCH 1958 101-



h a d a b o u t f o u r h u n d r e d t h o u s a n d peo-
ple in it. T h e r e are some most interest-
ing things in the transaction of t h e busi-
ness f o r a county. T h e r e isn't m u c h dif-
ference in the transaction of county busi-
ness a n d state business a n d the n a t i o n a l 
business. It's just o n a larger scale as you 
go along. T h e same p r o b l e m s come u p . 
You have the same troubles. 

A n d , of course, we have a collection of 
books to assist the students in the use of 
the records in the library. I ' m c o n t r i b u t -
ing my own collection of books, some 
ten t h o u s a n d of them, a n d we expect to 
b u i l d u p a first-class collection of refer-
ence works a n d b a c k g r o u n d works o n the 
i n s t i t u t i o n of the Presidency a n d o n the 
foreign policy of the U n i t e d States. 

T h e s e records of the Presidency are 
the greatest set of historical d o c u m e n t s 
this country produces. I a m h o p i n g t h a t 
one of the great f o u n d a t i o n s will m a k e 
a c o n t r i b u t i o n for the study of the Pres-
idency. 

T h e Congtess has a record. It's called 
The Congressional Record, a n d it is dis-
t r i b u t e d to all the libraries in the coun-
try. It's supposed to set d o w n just ex-
actly w h a t the m e m b e r s of the Senate 
a n d the H o u s e say w h e n they are trans-
acting business, b u t I w a n t t o whisper to 
you on t h e side t h a t w h e n a fellow gets 
u p a n d makes a n off-hand speech o n the 
floor of the Senate or the H o u s e , the 
record is always b r o u g h t in, a n d he cor-
rects it so it looks like it really is all r i g h t . 
(It is, in most instances.) I ' m speaking 

f r o m experience. I've d o n e t h a t myself, 
so I ' m n o t telling o n anybody. 

B u t there is n o official record of the 
Presidency. T h e p r e c e d e n t was estab-
lished by President W a s h i n g t o n t h a t a 
President's papers are private p r o p e r t y . 
George W a s h i n g t o n took all of his pa-
pers d o w n to M o u n t V e r n o n . T h e y were 
later sent to Boston to be w o r k e d on, 
a n d w h e n they were finally r e t u r n e d a 
great m a n y of t h e m h a d b e e n lost. 

A lot of us f r o m the Senate were inter-

ested in preserving these records of the 
Presidency. T h e r e was a Congressman 
f r o m New York City w h o never h a d any 
t r o u b l e g e t t i n g elected [Sol Bloom], H e 
h a d a sure-thing district. A n d he spent 
his time h a v i n g the W a s h i n g t o n papers 
p r i n t e d a n d indexed. It was a w o n d e r f u l 
t h i n g for h i m to do because it awakened 
people to the fact t h a t these things o u g h t 
to be looked a f t e r a n d taken care of. I 
was m a k i n g a speech one day in his dis-
trict in New York. Sol, of course, spent 
his time talking a b o u t George Washing-
ton all the time a n d r o d e his h o b b y to 
d e a t h . A f t e r my speech one of the old 
Nestors of his district said to me, " I ' m 
well a c q u a i n t e d w i t h Sol, b u t w h o the 
dickens is this fellow W a s h i n g t o n he's 
always t a l k i n g a b o u t ? " Well, it's a laugh-
able m a t t e r , b u t I say to you it is his-
torical d o c u m e n t s t h a t are the record of 
the Presidency. N o t taking care of t h e m 
will leave a great m a n y of us people will 
know n o t h i n g a b o u t in generations to 
come. 

Now, the p a p e r s of M i l l a r d F i l l m o r e 
were deliberately b u r n e d by his son. Half 
the papers of A b r a h a m L i n c o l n were 
b u r n e d by R o b e r t Lincoln. If it h a d n o t 
been for Nicholas M u r r a y B u t l e r catch-
ing h i m at it u p at his s u m m e r resort in 
New H a m p s h i r e nearly all of L i n c o l n ' s 
papers w o u l d have been destroyed. N o w 
that's n o t t h e p r o p e r thing. 

T h e r e are sixteen or eighteen sets of 
Presidential papers in the L i b r a r y of 
Congress. I have been b e f o r e a H o u s e 
committee in s u p p o r t of a bill which 
authorizes the i n d e x i n g a n d the micro-
filming of those Presidential papers a n d 
the o t h e r Presidential papers scattered 
over t h e country. 

President Hoover's papers are taken 
care of in a library at L e l a n d S t a n f o r d 
University in Palo Alto. President Roose-
velt's papers are in a library at H y d e 
Park which he set u p . T h e A d a m s Papers 
have been in the A d a m s L i b r a r y back in 
Quincy, Massachusetts, for a long time. 

102 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



I've been going u p a n d d o w n the coun-
try p r o m o t i n g p r o p e r care of Presiden-
tial papers, a n d I've been saying that the 
Adamses m a d e a living off those papers 
for 130 years. Believe it or not, they have 
now t u r n e d them over to H a r v a r d to be 
indexed. 

W h i l e I was in the Presidency Prince-
ton University m a d e u p its m i n d to d o 
something w i t h the Jefferson Papers. Jef-
ferson h a d the most orderly set of papers 
of any President. His g r a n d n e p h e w a n d 
g r a n d n i e c e became h a r d u p , as descend-
ants always do, a n d tried to sell these 
papers to the g o v e r n m e n t of the U n i t e d 
States. You know w h a t Congress did? 
T h e y said they would make a survey a n d 
they'd take all the official papers a n d n o t 
take the rest of them. T h e y spent twenty 
years trying to find o u t which the offi-
cial papers were. Finally they took half 
the papers, a n d these are in the L i b r a r y 
of Congress. T h e rest of them are scat-
tered f r o m o n e e n d of this country to 
the other. ( T h i s k i n d of thing, you 
know, makes a field day for dealers in 
a u t o g r a p h s w i t h the papers t h a t are not 
taken u p , for any p a p e r t h a t the Presi-
d e n t has a n y t h i n g to d o w i t h is an offi-
cial p a p e r ; it doesn't make any differ-
ence w h a t it is.) Well, Princeton Univer-
sity is spending two or three h u n d r e d 
t h o u s a n d dollars now reassembling the 
Jefferson Papers. T h e y are having them 
p r i n t e d in book f o r m as Sol Bloom d i d 
George W a s h i n g t o n ' s papers. I was pres-
ent w h e n the first volumes came off the 
press. I have the N u m b e r O n e v o l u m e 
a n d General Marshall has the N u m b e r 
T w o volume of the Jefferson Papers. I 
value m i n e very highly. 

I sincerely h o p e you will s u p p o r t m e 
in my effort to see t h a t the papers of 
the Presidents of the U n i t e d States are 
properly cared for. T h a t ' s the m a i n rea-
son I've been trying to establish this 
e d u c a t i o n a l institution, this library, o u t 
here in I n d e p e n d e n c e , Missouri. A n o t h e r 
reason is to let those people east of the 

A p p a l a c h i a n M o u n t a i n s k n o w t h a t there 
are people in t h a t p a r t of the country 
between the A p p a l a c h i a n M o u n t a i n s a n d 
the Rocky M o u n t a i n s w h o are just the 
finest people in the world. O n e time 
w h e n we t h o u g h t the capital of the 
U n i t e d States was going to be b o m b e d , 
some of us got together a n d we were 
going to have an auxiliary capital at 
Colorado Springs so w h e n those east 
came across the country to see it they 
w o u l d have t o go t h r o u g h the best of 
the country. A lot of those people back 
east still have the idea t h a t we have 
h o r n s a n d a tail o u t here. I w a n t you to 
go back a n d tell t h e m t h a t it's just n o t so. 

I n any case, if any of you are in the 
n e i g h b o r h o o d , come o n o u t to I n d e p e n d -
ence a n d you'll find o u t w h a t this library 
is for. A n d I hope, then, you'll get in 
the b a n d w a g o n w i t h me a n d h e l p us get 
some m o r e s u p p o r t a n d get all these 
Presidential papers taken care of. T h e n 
you can say to the students, " N o w if it's 
this you w a n t to find o u t a b o u t , it's in 
this library." You will know it's u n d e r 
this President or t h a t President, or it's 
u n d e r this Congress or t h a t Congress, 
a n d you can tell t h e m w h a t they o u g h t 
to do. 

T h e r e o u g h t never to be a n y t h i n g of 
any sort to stand in the way of education. 

You d o n ' t k n o w how m u c h I appreci-
ate your insisting o n my coming over 
here tonight. B u t I ' m r a t h e r tired to-
night. I have to a d m i t it. I d o n ' t a d m i t it 
to the m a d a m , b u t I ' m a d m i t t i n g it to 
you. I've been working like everything 
all day. I have a t r e m e n d o u s day ahead 
of me tomorrow a n d for the rest of this 
week a n d all n e x t week trying to get 
ready for the dedication of my library. 
I ' m going to have a t r e m e n d o u s affair 
o u t here o n the sixth of J u l y . I a m m o r e 
t h a n h a p p y t h a t you have been so k i n d 
a n d cordial to me. W i t h your permission, 
I a m going to bow myself o u t a n d go 
h o m e a n d go to bed. 

T h a n k you very m u c h . 

MARCH 1958 103-