Buckeye Reading Room, Room 260, Thompson Library

Papers of United States Presidents

The Buckeye Reading Room is named in honor of the OSU Athlectic Department which donated generously to the Thompson Library renovation project.

The reading room book shelves have a collection of published papers of the United States presidents.  This circulating collection includes selected correspondence; public documents such as speeches, press conferences and executive orders; and many other documents produced prior to, during or after a presidential term of office.  The extent of the collection from each president varies depending on what has been published in print and library holdings.  Some of the largest individual collections are for George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Dwight Eisenhower. All volumes are arranged by call number.  To find collections in this location search the library catalog by president's name as author or browse the collection in the reading room.

At least some documents are available in the reading room from all presidents in the Compilation of Messages and Papers of the Presidents covering George Washington beginning in April, 1789 to Calvin Coolidge ending in March, 1929 (J81B96C), and the Public Papers of the United States Presidents for all presidents since Herbert Hoover beginning in March, 1929 (J80A28; E806R78 for Franklin D. Roosevelt).  Volumes for George W. Bush are not yet complete and none are available yet for Barack Obama.  Public papers not published at this time for Bush may be found online in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, and for both Bush and Obama in Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents (Search documents; Browse Documents) which replaced the weekly series.

The OSU Libraries provides additional access to presidential papers on microfilm and also other writings by the presidents. Check the OSU Libraries catalog for library holdings by an individual president by performing an author search with the president's name (eg. Washington, George).

Digital Papers

Many collections of papers from the presidents are now available in digital form. See a selected guide to digital documents of the presidents.  Also check the OSU Libraries catalog for digital copies of published documents and other writings of the presidents.

David Lincove
History, Political Science & Philosophy Librarian
lincove.1@osu.edu