Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
# Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library

* This article is part of a series aboutGerald Ford

Early life

Electoral history

Pre-vice presidency

Military service

U.S. Representative for Michigan's 5th

Warren Commission

40th Vice President of the United States

Confirmation

Tenure

Resignation of Richard Nixon

38th President of the United States

Presidency

Timeline

Inauguration

Policies

Environmental

Foreign

International trips

Pardons

Appointments

Cabinet

Judiciary

Tenure

Pardon of Richard Nixon

Federal-Aid Highway Amendments of 1974

Education for All Handicapped Children Act

Assassination attempts

Sacramento

San Francisco

Timeline

'74

'75

'76–77

Presidential campaign

1976

Primaries

Convention

Debates

Election

Post-presidency

Presidential Library

Activities

AEI World Forum

Death and state funeral :

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The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library is a repository located on the north campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The library houses archival materials on the life, career, and presidency of Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States. The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library is a part of the National Archives and Records Administrations presidential library system.

## History

While a member of the United States Congress, Ford began donating his congressional papers to the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, his alma mater (B.A. 1935), in 1965. As his presidency drew to a close, Ford offered to donate his presidential materials to a presidential library that would be built on the university's campus and administered by the National Archives. Construction of the library started on January 15, 1979, and it was opened to the public on April 27, 1981.

The Ford Library is currently the only National Archives presidential library that is physically separate from its presidential museum, although both sites share a common director. The Gerald R. Ford Museum is located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Ford's old congressional district and hometown, 130 miles west-northwest of Ann Arbor.

## Collection

The majority of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library collection is made up of presidential and White House staff papers from 1974-1977. Papers from Betty Ford, additional pre- and post-presidential papers, research interviews and papers, as well as various Federal records are also included in the collection. In total, there are 3,500 hours of audio, 25 million pages of documents, 3,500 hours of motion picture film, 450,000 photographs, and 3,500 hours of video housed in the collection.

