LYNDON
JOHNSON
WEB SITES |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|
|
|---|
|
Johnson Library |
The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library is part of a system of presidential libraries administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. It is a primary repository for material about LBJ in Austin, Texas. The Library holds more than 44 million documents. It includes Johnson’s personal papers and public documents. For example, political correspondence between 1937 and 1948 takes up 57 linear f eet. The Library has an extensive audiovisual collection including more than 1000 oral history interviews. Even before Nixon, LBJ recorded his conversations as President. Some of the tapes have been broadcast on CNN radio (91.1 FM) on Saturday at 3 p.m. for several years. In 1973, a member of Johnson's staff, transferred control of a collection of recordings and transcripts to the LBJ Library. Johnson wanted this material unavailable for research until fifty years after his death. The fifty-year restriction was broken by the congressional mandate of the JFK Assassination Records Collection Act, and the Director decided to open these materials. Even today, the Library has not released all the tapes. The web site is straight-forward and unbiased although there is an implicit favorable view of Johnson. The site is aimed at scholars and students as well as the general public who are interested in Johnson and his times. The web site contains only a sampling of the items in the Library’s collection. The site contains information about grants the Library provides to scholars wishing to research material at the Library. Materials of interest to scholars on the web site include National Security Action Memoranda, the audio of about 30 Presidential tapes and transcripts of some phone conversations. There are 100 oral history transcripts including one with GMU professor Roy Wilkins and an interview with a Texas priest, a Johnson friend who attended Adenaur's funeral with LBJ. The texts are searchable (I searched for Byrd). There are about 50 pages of LBJ's daily diary. (I found a page with a meeting with Walter Fauntroy of D.C.) The site includes 600 images that are searchable and labeled. There do not seem to be many photographs of the years prior to the Presidency. The site includes Johnson trivia such as favorite movies, recipes for favorite foods, and pets with pictures. In a section devoted to the museum, there is an image of the LBJ limousine. There is a links page to other sources of information . The site has material for school teachers. There is a link to a web site for children. This section includes images of Joseph Califano’s hourly reports about the 50 mile march of 4 days from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. The Library provides free teacher workshops. The site is well organized. Navigation is quickly learned. The opening page is rather unattractive but serviceable. Design is consistent throughout the site. The sidebar is rather ugly and too glitzy for a library. The use of new technology, in particular images and audio is well-done and extensive. The Library web site only provides a taste for the scholarly feast on the extensive holdings of the LBJ Library. Hopefully this site will be expanded to include more materials for scholars. Links listed for your convenience. LBJ library http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/
|
|---|