Primary Source Spotlight: U.S. Presidents
Teaching resources: primary source lesson plans, activities & strategies
- Primary Source Learning: U.S. President lessons, analysis activities & more
- Primary Source Learning: Presidential Elections
- Primary Source Learning: Women in the White House
- Learning from the Source: Comparing & Contrasting Presidential Articles of Impeachment
Presidential Spotlight: primary source collections
- George Washington
- John Adams
- Thomas Jefferson
- James Madison
- James Monroe
- John Quincy Adams
- Andrew Jackson
- Martin Van Buren
- William Henry Harrison
- John Tyler
- James Polk
- Zachary Taylor
- Millard Fillmore
- Franklin Pierce
- James Buchanan
- Abraham Lincoln
- Andrew Johnson
- Ulysses S. Grant
- Rutherford B. Hayes
- James A. Garfield
- Chester A. Arthur
- Grover Cleveland
- Benjamin Harrison
- William McKinley
- Theodore Roosevelt
- William Howard Taft
- Woodrow Wilson
- Warren G. Harding
- Calvin Coolidge
- Herbert Hoover
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- Harry S. Truman
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
- John F. Kennedy
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- Richard Nixon
- Gerald R. Ford
- Jimmy Carter
- Ronald Reagan
- George H.W. Bush
- Bill Clinton
- George W. Bush
- Barack Obama
More president related primary source collections
Library collections
- “I Do Solemnly Swear…”: Presidential Inaugurations
- By Popular Demand: Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-Present
- The Presidency: selections from the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress
- Abraham Lincoln Primary Source Set
- Abraham Lincoln Papers
- The Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana
- American Leaders Speak: Recordings from World War I and the 1920 Election
- George Washington Papers
- James Madison Papers
- Last Days of a President: Films of McKinley & the 1901 Pan-American Exposition
- Prosperity and Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy, 1921-1929
- Theodore Roosevelt: His Life and Times on Film
- Thomas Jefferson Papers
American Treasures of the Library of Congress
- George Washington’s First Inauguration, April 30, 1789
- Thomas Jefferson’s First Inauguration, March 4, 1801
- Madison’s Treasures
- The President’s House
- James Buchanan’s Inauguration
- Andrew Jackson’s First Inaugural Address
- A White House Mob: Jackson’s first inaugural reception in 1829
- William Henry Harrison’s Inauguration
- James Polk’s Inauguration
- James Polk’s Twenty-five Volume Diary
- Lincoln’s Second Inauguration, March 4, 1865
- Lincoln Acceptance of the Nomination
- Lincoln & Hamlin Ticket, 1860
- Lincoln for President
- Lincoln’s Farewell
- Abraham Lincoln: A Glimpse of the Inaugural
- Inaugural Bible, 1861
- Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
- Lincoln’s Message to Congress
- Preservation of the Union: A Letter from President Lincoln
- An Official Invitation to Gettysburg
- First Draft of the Gettysburg Address
- Emancipation Proclamation—the First Draft
- The Proclamation Issued
- Lincoln’s Favorite Play
- Lincoln at Springfield
- Andrew Johnson as Iago
- Ulysses S. Grant’s Inauguration
- Grover Cleveland as Hamlet
- William McKinley’s Inaugurations, 1897 and 1901
- Theodore Roosevelt’s Inauguration, March 4, 1905
- Theodore Roosevelt’s Pocket Diary
- Theodore Roosevelt Writes to His Son
- Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points
- President Harry S. Truman
- Lyndon B. Johnson as Caesar
- Richard Nixon as Juliet
Online exhibitions
- Herblock’s Presidents
- Herblock’s History: Political Cartoons from the Crash to the Millennium
- Inaugural Materials from the Collections of the Library of Congress
- Voices, Votes, Victory: Presidential Campaign Songs
- Thomas Jefferson
- Thomas Jefferson’s Library
- With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition
- The Gettysburg Address
Spotlights, features & special presentations
- Inaugurals of Presidents of the United States: Some Precedents and Notable Events
- Inaugurations: Stepping into History
- Presidential Inaugurations: Historical Insights
- Presidential Elections and Voting in U.S. History
- All Things Presidential Library of Congress Magazine Vol. 6 No. 1: Jan.-Feb. 2017
- The Martyred Presidents 1901 film
- Original acrostics, on all the states and presidents of the United States, and various other subjects, religious, political and personal
- Presidential Food: A Resource Guide
Library of Congress blog posts
- A Birthday Fit for a President Timeless Stories from the Library 2013
- Broccoli, Opossum, and Gingerbread: Presidential Food Inside Adams 2017
- A Bully President See It Now 2012
- Campaigning for President Timeless Stories from the Library 2017
- Christmas with the Presidents Headlines and Heroes 2019
- Food Fit for a President Timeless Stories from the Library 2009
- Getting Around: Presidential Wheels Inside Adams 2014
- Happy Birthday Mister President, Happy Birthday to You In The Muse 2010
- Know Your Candidate: Analyzing Sheet Music to Explore Presidential Nominee Identity Teaching with the Library 2016
- Music in the Lincoln White House: Francis M. Scala and “The President’s Own” In The Muse 2013
- Opening Day Redux for President Taft Timeless Stories from the Library 2013
- Our Fourth President See It Now 2014
- Poem for a President Timeless Stories from the Library 2013
- Poetry and the Presidential Inauguration From the Catbird Seat 2017
- President for a Day Timeless Stories from the Library 2017
- Presidential Communications: A Beginner’s Guide In Custodia Legis 2016
- Presidential Food Book Display Inside Adams 2015
- A Presidential Fourth Timeless Stories from the Library 2013
- Presidential Inaugurations Outside of Washington, D.C. In Custodia Legis 2017
- Presidential Podcasts Timeless Stories from the Library 2017
- The Presidential Seal In Custodia Legis 2017
- Presidential Sweethearts Picture This
- The President’s Budget In Custodia Legis 2012
- Presidents Day – Lincoln the Lawyer In Custodia Legis 2011
- The President’s Globe Worlds Revealed 2018
- Presidents on Film Now See Hear! 2016
- Presidential Memorials and Public Memory Teaching with the Library 2019
- Presidents, the Other National Pastime In Custodia Legis 2013
- Presidents, Premiers at Press Club Luncheons Timeless Stories from the Library 2016
- Ratification Anniversary [22nd amendment] Custodia Legis 2017
- Resignation of Vice President John C. Calhoun In Custodia Legis 2017
- Songs of US Presidents Folklife Today 2014
- Students and Presidential Speeches: Analyzing Past Speeches and Delivering Their Own Teaching with the Library 2017
- Theodore Roosevelt: President, Outdoorsman Picture This 2012
- What is Congress Sending the President? In Custodia Legis 2010
- “Wild to be loved”: The Poetry of President Warren G. Harding From the Catbird Seat 2015
Webcast recordings
- Bully!: The Life & Times of Theodore Roosevelt
- Electing FDR: The New Deal Campaign of 1932
- Empty Sleeves & Bloody Shirts: Disabled Civil War Veterans & Presidential Campaigns, 1864-1880
- First Daughters: Letters Between U.S. Presidents and Their Daughters
- The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War
- The Ike Age: Eisenhower, America & the World of the 1950s
- Impeached: the Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy
- An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America
- In the Name of National Security: Unchecked Presidential Power and the Reynolds Case
- Jefferson and His Legacy
- Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Laws That Changed America
- Lincoln’s Other White House: the Untold Story of the Man and His Presidency
- Lincoln’s Sword: The Presidency and the Power of Words
- Lincoln and Whitman: Parallel Lives in Civil War Washington
- James Madison 265th Birthday Commemoration
- James Madison, Philosopher and Practitioner of Liberal Democracy
- Madison’s Gift: Five Partnerships That Built America
- My Dear President: Letters Between Presidents and Their Wives
- Obama’s Victory & the Democratic Struggle for Power
- The People and the President: America’s Conversations with FDR
- President Warren Harding’s Love Letters
- Presidential Campaign Posters
- Retreat from Armageddon? Khrushchev, Kennedy, Johnson and the Elusive Quest for Peace
- Roosevelt’s Second Act: The Election of 1940 & the Politics of War
- Separate Branches, Balanced Powers: Madison’s Legacy
- They Have Killed Papa Dead!: The Road to Ford’s Theatre, Abraham Lincoln’s Murder and the Rage for Vengeance
- Walt Whitman’s Elegy for Lincoln
- Walt Whitman’s The Death of Lincoln
- Why Coolidge Matters: How Civility in Politics Can Bring a Nation Together
- Woodrow Wilson’s Right Hand: The Life of Colonel Edward M. House