The sign welcoming you to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum & Boyhood Home. All photos by the author.
After months of research on U.S. intelligence sites using digital resources such as the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series and the CIA’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) electronic reading room, I was fortunate enough to finally conduct in-person archival research at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum & Boyhood Home. The library is located in Abilene where President Eisenhower spent much of his childhood, and is the main attraction in the small Kansas town. The museum is well-designed, documenting Eisenhower’s journey from his childhood in Abilene, his stints in the army, to his time as President and later post-presidency. My visit to a U.S. presidential library was possible because I work as a researcher for Professor Austin Carson.
My first visit to a National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)-operated institution was interesting because I received a thorough education in what it takes to access and handle presidential records. From having to make appointments to secure a spot as a researcher, completing an online research orientation course that outlines the do’s and (many) don’ts of handling sensitive documents, and coordinating with archivists on locating specific documents, a substantial amount of work goes into the process before one even arrives at the library.1 Some of these measures have been incorporated recently to accommodate for post-COVID scenarios. For instance, it wasn’t always necessary to interact with an archivist prior to visiting the library. In today’s context, however, an interaction with the archivist prior to a visit could be immensely helpful. I know I benefited from this interaction.2
View of the library from a distance.
Statue of President Eisenhower.
I arrived in Abilene on a Tuesday morning, around 7:00 AM, after an hour-long taxi from Manhattan (KS) Regional Airport and headed straight to the library. As I had no car and there were limited public transportation options, I walked to the library from Engle House B&B where I was staying. I was able to spot most of Abilene’s attractions — including the Seelye Mansion and the Greyhound Hall of Fame — on the short walk.3 The library itself is located just off Abilene’s main street surrounded by a visitor information center, a statue of Eisenhower, a meditation spot, and a museum. A striking two-storied building, the library houses approximately 26 million pages of historical records and papers. I came seeking information about the various intelligence sites the United States had established around the globe during the Cold War. The research team, led by Dr. Carson, had contacted the library staff and archivists well in advance to request documents centered around this subject.4 The first day I arrived at the library, archives specialist Linda K. Smith and her wonderful colleagues had the required documents already collected on two carts. Given that the library was operating only from 10:00 AM to 3:30 PM Tuesday through Friday (due to recently instituted post-COVID regulations), the readily kept boxes ensured that I didn’t lose any time worrying about accessing the relevant records.
Eisenhower Library’s Research Room.
The library’s online finding aids help researchers narrow down the documents that may be of interest but given my research subject, there was still a fair amount of fishing that I had to do even within the documents that were pre-requested. One of the joys — and despairs at times — of working with archival documents is not knowing what documents particular folders hold and their relevance to the research at hand. Only after reviewing a file or folder, can a researcher determine the relevance of the documents to the project. While you can get lucky at times, finding key documents that weren’t digitally available, more often than not, one usually finds documents that are barely or not all relevant to their interests. The first day of research was a little disappointing as most of the requested documents were only tangentially related to the intelligence sites that the Eisenhower Administration had established, but on the third day I stumbled across a tranche of files that only focused on sites that were set up across the globe. While familiarizing yourself with the available records and relevant personnel who served in the period you are researching is essential, documenting as many files as possible at the library rather than pouring through each page in detail is a time-efficient way to collect information. I was fortunate in this regard because Dr. Carson had shared his knowledge on how to quickly document each record using a relatively low-cost setup of a Bluetooth enabled clicker, a spotlight, a camera (a phone works perfectly well too), and a stand attached to the table.5
Shreyas’s setup.
Since I was in Abilene for only three days of research, I had limited time to go through a ton of files. After briefly gauging the relevance of a particular file’s contents to the research subject, I would photograph each paper within the file before quickly moving on to the next one. Along with the setup pictured above, this process enabled me to document close to 4000 pages of declassified documents in a span of three days. The library’s research room makes for a beautiful spot to quietly conduct your work.
An afternoon in the Research Room.
After spending all day working in the research room, I was looking forward to walking around town and visiting many local sites. During my stay, I visited several tourist spots and tried as many local restaurants as I could — returning to M&R Grill multiple times for their amazing burgers and sandwiches.
Inside the museum.
My time in Abilene was made all the more comfortable thanks to the lovely hosts at Engle House B&B who went above and beyond in offering help as I sought to make my way around town. My first visit to a presidential library (and Kansas) was a delight primarily because of all the wonderfully helpful people I encountered at every step — from the hosts at the bed and breakfast to the staff at the library. The library is a treasure trove for researchers focused on a range of subjects — from WWII to civil rights — and my visit to the Eisenhower Library made me all the more appreciative of the resources that one can access to study America’s past.
Breakfast at Engle House B&B.
- Given my limited knowledge of President Eisenhower, I turned to a series of essays on him by Prof. Chester J. Pach, Jr. hosted by the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. An episode on President Eisenhower on the Hated and the Dead podcast was also a good intro into his life.
- For more on why scholars continue to go to archives and handle physical sources, please see the 2019 Contingent mailbag, “Why Do Historians Still Have To Go To Archives?
- The Seelye Mansion is a historic architectural landmark in Kansas. Most of the furnishings in the house were purchased in the early 20th century at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. You get a good sense of how people lived in that period as the house remains extremely well-preserved to this date. The Greyhound Hall of Fame is a museum dedicated to greyhound breeding, the sport and its history. If you are lucky, a retired greyhound may greet you at the museum.
- The research project focuses on various intelligence sites – broadly defined to include any sites, including military bases, that plays a role in intelligence gathering. In order to understand where such sites were established and the role that they played, a good starting point was to look at where the U.S. established military bases as these sites usually also served some intelligence purpose. Details for a lot of the U.S. intelligence sites from the Cold War era are now declassified (facilities at Sinop and Pirinclik in Turkey or missile and space vehicle tracking stations near Pretoria, South Africa for instance) so searching for correspondence centered around those sites or areas is also helpful. For the most part, I was focused on military ties between the United States and certain nations during the Eisenhower period to get hints about potential intelligence ties.
- Dr. Carson’s personal website includes helpful advice on how to conduct archival research. See here: https://austinmcarson.com/advice/#archival-research.
