About this place

The Ford Presidential Library (in Ann Arbor, Michigan) and the Museum (in Grand Rapids, Michigan) promote popular interest and scholarly research in U.S. history during the post-World War II era, especially the Ford presidency (1974-1977). The Library collects and preserves the archival record, and aids public access. Where the Ford Presidential Library offers an analytic approach to our past and our government, the Museum provokes emotions that stimulate learning, reflection and a sense of democratic citizenship. For visitors, the presidency is theirs to see and touch through interactive exhibits featuring full-scale replicas of the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room and displays on life in the 1970s and Watergate. The Museum presents an ambitious program of temporary exhibits and special events. Both the Library and the Museum are part of the presidential library system administered by the National Archives and Records Administration, a Federal agency. The Ford Museum opened to the public in September 1981. Unlike other presidential libraries, the Museum component is geographically separate from the Library. Despite the separation, the Library and Museum are a single institution sharing one director.