The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 102, July 1998 - April, 1999 Page: 539
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Exibition Reviews
of Registrar Amy Day, computers will also be utilized in the management of the
collection through the use of Willoughby's Multi-Mimsy software, a highly
sophisticated tool that will allow for easy access of the collections from many
points of inquiry.
In our world of ever-changing technology, exhibit designers, curators, and edu-
cators will profit from monitoring the experiences and progress of the Bush staff.
No exhibition design is without areas which could be improved over time.
Lighting in some areas of the exhibit challenges the visitor to read a label, espe-
cially those utilizing white lettering on glass, and occasionally the visitor might
be staring into a reflected overhead spotlight. These are easy to correct, and they
are overshadowed by the well designed features of the area, and the enormous
reaseach that is obvious throughout.
The visitor experience is well enhanced by more than three hundred well
trained and friendly volunteers who personally greet visitors at the door and
offer assistance throughout the visit. Texas is the only state to boast two
Presidential Libraries, and Texans who visit the second one in College Station
will be glad they did.
San Jacinto Museum of History, Houston J. C. MARTIN
The George Bush Presidential Library's research reading room is open year-
round, Monday through Friday from 9 A.M. to 4:30 P.M., with the exception of
federal holidays.
Long after the inauguration hoopla at the George Bush Presidential Library
died down, two months after the first visitors pushed through the museum turn-
stile, and exactly five years after President Bush left office, January 20, 1993, the
Bush presidential archives quietly opened its doors to scholars and historians.
To celebrate its first year of operation, I visited the reading room to see what
opportunities it might offer the enterprising researcher.
Those accustomed to the LBJ archives will be pleasantly surprised to find large
windows overlooking the Bush museum lobby, allowing researchers to easily spot
restless relatives waiting below. Each of the seventeen mahogany-topped desks
comes equipped with an electrical outlet, a much needed convenience in these
days of laptop research. I would, however, have preferred they had attached the
dome-shaped jack to some other surface than the desktop itself, a minor com-
plaint about an otherwise tasteful, comfortable and efficient space.
Out of 36-38 million documents housed at the Bush library, to date a little
over 6 percent of the material has been processed. This modest amount is, in
fact, typical of new presidential libraries, even the Johnson library in its day.
During the five years prior to its opening, the archivists at the Bush library
processed four substantial collections--the daily diaries, the press office, presi-
dential speech drafts, and many subject categories in the White House central
files. Over the past year, hundreds of folders on specific domestic and foreign
policy topics have been processed and are available for review. The current list
of open files may be found on their website: http://csdl.tamu.edu/bushlib/.
And as one might expect in Texas, the staff is friendly, professional, knowledge-
able, and eager to assist the researcher in his or her field of interest.1999
539
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 102, July 1998 - April, 1999, periodical, 1999; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101219/m1/610/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.