Clinton Presidential Library Fact Sheet

POSTED: 12:04 pm EST November 15, 2004

UPDATED: 12:27 pm EST November 15, 2004

The Clinton Library and Archives contains nearly 2 million photographs, 80 million pages of records and documents, 79,000 gifts and artifacts and 21 million e-mail messages.

The design of the Library was inspired by President Clinton’s commitment to build a “bridge to the 21st Century.” Inspiration was found in the landscape, Little Rock’s “Six Bridges,” and the historic Trinity College Library in Dublin, Ireland.

The architect is Polshek Partnership Architects of New York City. Polshek Partnership was the architect for the celebrated Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, and in recognition of design excellence in the built environment, the firm was awarded the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Architecture this year.

The landscape architect is Hargreaves Associates, and the design for the Clinton Presidential Center extends the urban grid of Little Rock and North Little Rock.

Exhibits were designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates. The Library contains alcoves depicting important milestones in the Clinton presidency, such as the economic boom and elimination of the deficit, reducing crime and promoting peace and democracy in the world. It features a timeline of world events between 1993 and 2001, a full-scale replica of the Cabinet Room and the Oval Office and several exhibits that detail life in the White House, including “State Events -- Welcoming the World” and “Making The House a Home.”

The Library is equipped with state-of-the-art technology, including high-definition television screens and 19 interactive stations. Visitors can enter any date during the entire Clinton presidency and see President Clinton’s complete schedule for that day. They can also sit in chairs around the Cabinet Room table and view information about each Cabinet department on monitors built into the tabletop.

The Clinton Presidential Center is a “green” building, having recently received silver LEED certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) from the United States Green Building Council in recognition of the many environmentally sustainable and energy efficient design elements incorporated into the structure and operation of the buildings and the presidential park.

The Archives are the repository of the written, video and audio records of the Clinton-Gore Administration, and beginning in 2005 will be available to historians, students and others with an interest in researching the Clinton presidency. The Clinton Presidential Center has a full-time educator on staff who will regularly host school groups for on-site lessons.

The Clinton School of Public Service is part of the University of Arkansas and is located at the renovated Choctaw Station, Sturgis Hall; it was once a railroad station on the Rock Island line. Former Sen. David Pryor is Dean of the school, the first in the nation to offer a master’s degree in public service.

The Clinton Foundation, also located in the Choctaw Station-Sturgis Hall (with other primary offices in Harlem and Boston), continues the work of President Clinton in four areas: economic empowerment; racial, ethnic and religious reconciliation; leadership development and citizen service; and health security, with a focus on HIV/AIDS.

The Clinton Presidential Center and Park has helped spur more than $1 billion in economic development in the downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock areas, including renovations of the River Market area of the city, where restaurants, clubs, retail stores and new housing have proliferated. The city has added a trolley car “River Rail” system serving this neighborhood of Little Rock, and the charitable Heifer Foundation, a leader in addressing world hunger, is building its world headquarters adjacent to the Clinton Presidential Center.

Built at a cost of $165 million in privately-raised charitable contributions from more than 100,000 donors, the Clinton Library and Archives will be turned over to the United States by the Clinton Foundation on the day of its opening, Nov. 18, 2004. The keys to the facility will be given to John Carlin of the National Archives by President Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea. It represents the largest “donation” to the American people by any former President of the United States.