Presidents and Their Books: What They Read and What They Wrote
February 1 – April 7, 2024
Traveling from NYC’s Grolier Club, Presidents and Their Books: What They Read and What They Wrote explores America’s presidents as bibliophiles, readers, and writers and features books owned or written by each of the 45 men who have served as President. Co-curated by renowned collector Susan Jaffe Tane and her teenage grandchildren Natalie Flaxman and Spencer Flaxman, the materials are drawn from Ms. Tane’s personal collection.
Highlights include:
- George Washington’s signed copy of Memoir of a Map of Hindoostan (1794)
- Thomas Jefferson’s annotated copy of Homer’s Iliad (1570), a Renaissance-era printing in Greek
- Theodore Roosevelt’s personal copy of his book Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter (1905)
- Harry S. Truman’s Truman Speaks (1960), gifted and inscribed to Eleanor Roosevelt
- John F. Kennedy’s copy of Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States (1961), inscribed by Jacqueline Kennedy after her husband’s death
Join us for staff-led exhibition tours at 1pm:
February 14 & 28
March 5 & 19
April 2 & 5
(registration not required)
To discover more about this exhibition, explore its incredible volumes, and take a virtual tour, visit the Grolier’s website. For more information, contact collections@provath.org or 401.421.6970 x26.
Please note that while the Philbrick Rare Book Room is not open outside the tour hours listed above, two cases of exhibition materials outside the space are viewable during open library hours.