Dedication
The site for the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum was selected May 3, 1991. The groundbreaking was Nov. 30, 1994. The Bush Library and Museum is located on a 90-acre area of Texas A&M University's west campus and is part of the George Bush Presidential Library Center, which includes the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation, Bush School of Government and Public Service, and the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center.
The Bush Library and Museum was dedicated Nov. 6, 1997. President and Mrs. Barbara Bush along with former Presidents Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy Carter, Lady Bird Johnson and Nancy Reagan, and President and Mrs. Bill Clinton attended and spoke at the dedication ceremonies. Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush were also in attendance. The museum opened to the public Nov. 7, 1997.
The Bush Library and Museum Research Room opened to the public Jan. 20, 1998. The textual archives contain more than 45 million pages of documents, and the audio-visual archives have more than 2 million photographs and thousands of hours of video and audio recordings.
The Bush Library and Museum facility is approximately 69,049 square feet and was built at a cost of $43 million. The architect was Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum and the contractor was Manhattan Construction Company.
The Bush Library and Museum is part of the National Archives and Records Administration’s Presidential Libraries system, composed of 13 presidential libraries.
Additional Resources
Read remarks from the dedication
CNN news report from library opening
Why did President Bush choose to put his library at Texas A&M University?
Read more about President Bush online at Texas Monthly