Exhibits at the National Archives at Kansas City
Welcome Center and Theater
Curious about what the National Archives is and what it does? Learn about the National Archives and its role in preserving America’s heritage in the short film Democracy Starts Here.
Make souvenir rubbings of famous signatures from the archives. Use the interactive kiosk to learn about the National Archives across America, and get information on upcoming special events, lectures, genealogy classes, book-signings, and programs for children.
School House to White House: The Education of the Presidents exhibition in the Concourse Gallery
June 12, 2012 – February 23, 2013
School House to White House: The Education of the Presidents exhibition in the Concourse Gallery
June 12, 2012 – February 23, 2013
Our modern Presidents received educations and participated in school activities in ways as diverse as their backgrounds and their political philosophies.
Some of the Presidents attended neighborhood public schools, and some of them learned in rural classrooms; others studied under tutors and attended prestigious private schools. Many of the Presidents participated in extracurricular activities and organized sports while they attended school.
The challenges of studying various subjects, completing homework, forming new ideas, participating in extracurricular activities, and making friends are part of the common heritage of an American education shared by everyone—including our Presidents. This is the premise of the exhibit opening at the National Archives at Kansas City, called "School House to White House: The Education of the Presidents." It charts the educational experiences of our Presidents from Herbert Hoover to William J. Clinton, including such notable documents as:
- Herbert Hoover’s diploma, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, 1896
- Franklin D. Roosevelt’s letter home to parents while at Groton, September 27, 1896
- Harry Truman’s second grade report card, Columbian School, Independence, Missouri, 1894
- Dwight Eisenhower’s Abilene High School diploma, Abilene, Kansas, 1909
- Health records of John F. Kennedy, written by his mother, Rose Kennedy, 1917–28
- Lyndon Baines Johnson’s high school graduation invitation, 1924
- Richard Nixon’s school paper, “Autobiography,” written in eighth grade, 1925
- Gerald Ford’s letter to his mother, Dorothy Ford, wishing her a happy Mother’s Day, May 12, 1933
- Jimmy Carter’s Georgia School of Technology report card, Atlanta, Georgia, 1943
- Ronald Reagan’s French exam, Dixon High School, Dixon, Illinois, ca. 1925
- Letter from Barbara Pierce (Bush) to Poppy (George H.W. Bush), Charleston, South Carolina, 1942
- Bill Clinton at Miss Mary’s Kindergarten, Hope, Arkansas, May 6, 1950
Through the records of the presidential libraries—archival material, museum objects, and photographs as well as audio and visual material—"School House to White House" gives the public a new perspective on the presidency. It allows visitors to make connections and comparisons between their own education and the variety of educational experiences of our leaders.
Developed jointly by the museum and archival staffs of the presidential libraries and the museum staff of the National Archives Experience in Washington, DC, the exhibit explores these future Presidents' activities in grade school, high school, college, and after graduation. Other sections of the exhibit focus on the importance of home life in their education and describe participation in extracurricular activities and sports as well as each President's reflections later in life on his education.
Between the Rivers: Steamboating in Missouri and Iowa exhibition in the Regional Gallery
September 25, 2012 – April 27, 2013
With their roaring engines, belching smokestacks, splashing paddlewheels, and distinctive whistles, steamboats were an awesome power on the river. Come on deck and discover the history of steamboats in a new temporary exhibition, Between the Rivers: Steamboating in Missouri and Iowa, opening September 25.
Between the Rivers explores the steamboat industry and its impact on the river environment, culture, and economy in Missouri and Iowa from the 1850s to the early 1900s. Located between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, the land and people of Missouri and Iowa have long been defined by these two great rivers. Together the rivers and their tributaries opened pathways to exploration, trade, settlement, industry, war, and freedom in the Midwest. But it wasn’t just the river itself that was critical to western development—the invention of the steamboat brought about a revolution in American river commerce as significant as the railroad on land. Long before railroad tracks crisscrossed through the country, the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers served as major thoroughfares of transportation for people and cargo.
The exhibit will feature steamboat architecture and design, life adrift on the rivers, natural and steamboat disasters, government regulation of the industry, navigational improvement of the rivers, and the economic struggle between river and rail.
Between the Rivers opens on September 25 and is available for viewing through April 27, 2013. To schedule a docent-led group or school tour call 816-268-8013 or email mickey.ebert@nara.gov.
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