Clinton Library museum exhibits
By far the most popular attraction at the Clinton Presidential Center is the museum exhibits. "The museum was especially important to me," wrote Bill Clinton in his autobiography My Life, "because I wanted to show visitors from across the county and around the world that political ideas, policies, and decisions have real consequences to their lives and therefore that public service and well-informed citizens are as essential to America in the twenty-first century as they were at the time of our founding."
Patrons must pass through an elaborate security procedure when entering the museum at the south end of the main Library building, then pass a large circular reception desk and the bulletproofed presidential limousine en route to an escalator to the main and upper level exhibition spaces. Visitors are reminded to first visit the orientation theater, which includes an endlessly repeating film documenting Clinton's life and work.
Gigantic cherry bookcases housing part of the Clinton papers frame 240 feet of museum space found on the main and upper levels. The bookcases are modeled after those Clinton admired in the Long Room of Trinity College Library in Dublin, Ireland. Clinton visited the library while studying as a Rhodes Scholar. Oversize interactive displays designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates stand at angles in the center of the exhibit space.
The main level includes a Great Hall for events, a scale Cabinet Room, and sixteen Policy Alcoves. The upper level of the museum hall is given over biography exhibits, Clinton memorabilia - including a large glass Christmas tree created by Dale Chihuly - and a scale model of the Oval Office painstakingly recreated by Kaki Hockersmith. The current charge for visiting the museum exhibits is $7.
The Clinton Foundation houses some 77,000 artifacts on site, though only a fraction are on exhibit at any given time. The collection includes 50 saxophones and a 1967 model Ford Mustang like that driven by the president in his youth. Eight military cargo planes moved all of Clinton's memorabilia, papers, and other media from Washington, DC, to Little Rock in 2001.
References
- Bill Clinton, My Life (New York: Vintage, 2004), 967.
