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A Presidential Library is primarily an archive, a depository for the papers of the President. The Presidential Libraries are administered by the National Archives and Records Administration, which is the federal agency responsible for the nation’s records of historical value.

Soon after his inauguration in 1965, President Johnson decided to locate his Library at the University of Texas in Austin, making it the first Presidential Library on a university campus. The University of Texas made this site available and constructed the Library building.

Lady Bird Johnson took an active role in planning the Library. When she visited the first four Presidential Libraries, she observed, “The scholars come in one door, and the public comes in another. And the public never sees what brings the scholars.” From that observation came the main exhibit in the LBJ Library: the four-story window into the archives.

At the Library’s dedication on May 22, 1971, President Johnson expressed his desire for his papers to be open and accessible. He said, “So it’s all here: the story of our time with the bark off….This Library will show the facts, not just the joy and triumphs, but the sorrow and failures, too.”

Each year, scholars, students, teachers, writers, authors, and journalists come from across the United States and the world to do research from the 45 million papers found in the Library’s archives.