Monday, January 26, 2009

Another time, another place.

















Let’s ignore that photo for a moment and think about the ones in my previous post, “Your mission, should you decide to accept it,...” (January 23, 2009).

Starting at the top and working downward one at a time all the way to the bottom -- I know, it’s a strange way to operate -- the buildings shown in that post are:

1. The Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library & Museum in Northampton, Massachusetts
2. The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, Iowa
3. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library in Hyde Park, New York
4. The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri
5. The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas
6. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, Massachusetts
7. The Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas
8. The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California
9. The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan
10. The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta, Georgia
11. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California
12. The George (Herbert Walker) Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas
13. The William J. Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas

Plans are already underway for a George W. Bush Presidential Library in Dallas, Texas.

Here is an interesting article about presidential libraries from Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. If you read it, you will find out which photo doesn’t belong with the others. But I will save you the trouble. Here is a quote from the article:

“Libraries and museums have been established for other presidents, but they are not part of the NARA [National Archives and Records Administration] presidential library system, and are operated by private foundations, historical societies, or state governments, including the William McKinley, Rutherford Hayes, Calvin Coolidge, Abraham Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson libraries. For example, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is owned and operated by the State of Illinois.”

So the photo that didn’t belong with the others in the previous post was the first one, the Calvin Coolidge Library, because it is not part of the NARA system. Which brings us back to that distinguished-looking couple in the photo at the top of this post. They are none other than Calvin Coolidge and his wife, Grace Goodhue Coolidge, who were President and First Lady, respectively, a mere seventy-five years ago.

How times have changed.*

Just for good measure, and to make our collection complete, here are links to the other four presidential libraries (the ones not run by the National Archives people):

1. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois
2. The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont, Ohio
3. The William McKinley Presidential Library in Canton, Ohio
4. The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library in Staunton, Virginia

Here are photos of three of them:







I don’t want to do all the work. To find out which three they are and to see the fourth one, you’ll have to open the links all by yourself.






*Times have changed in other ways as well. For example, nowadays there is an acronym for just about everything. You may be familiar with POTUS (President of the United States). Well, today I read an article in which Michelle Obama was referred to as FLOTUS.

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<b>Always true to you, darlin’, in my fashion</b>

We are bombarded daily by abbreviations in everyday life, abbreviations that are never explained, only assumed to be understood by everyone...