Presidential Records

As the Nation's official record keeper, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) serves as administrator for records of the U.S. Federal Government. NARA's Presidential Libraries and Museums are repositories for textual, audiovisual, and electronic Presidential records as well as domestic and foreign Presidential gifts. Created or received throughout the Bush Administration, the records at the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum serve as a resource for the study of American history, the American Presidency, and important issues of public policy.

Textual, audiovisual, and electronic Presidential records at the Library are processed under the terms of the Presidential Records Act and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Finding Aids

View the Finding Aids for open records currently available for research. Finding aids could include information about extent or linear feet, access, series, administrative or biographical history, scope and content note, system of arrangement, container list (folder title list), and other pertinent details.

Textual Records

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More than 29,000 cubic feet or 70 million pages of textual materials are housed at the Library and include Presidential records from the Executive Office of the President (EOP). Examples of Presidential records are the White House Office of Records Management (WHORM), the White House Staff Member Office Files (SMOF), and the records created by The Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction (The WMD Commission). Staff Member Office Files include collections such as the National Security Council, the White House Counsel's Office, and the Domestic Policy Council and include staff members such as Condoleezza Rice, Brett Kavanaugh, and Karl Rove.

Audiovisual Records

The Library holds over 1,200 cubic feet of audiovisual materials including audiovisual recordings, photo negatives, and photographs. In addition, the Library's electronic records include nearly 4 million photographs created by the White House Photo Office. View Order Photos & Videos for more information about these materials, many of which are already in the public domain.

Electronic Records

The Library holds over 80 terabytes of electronic records. This data includes over 200 million email messages created or received using the White House email system; the files from the shared network drives used by various White House offices; and the data from the various records management, scheduling, and appointment systems used in the EOP. The vast majority of these electronic records are stored in the National Archives and Records Administration's Electronic Records Archive (ERA). Electronic records not stored in ERA are physically housed at the Library or at the National Archives' headquarters in Washington, D.C.