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Laura Bush Dedicates First Ladies’ LibraryFirst Lady Laura Bush formally dedicated a new library and educational center in Canton, Ohio, September 4 for the National First Ladies’ Library, an archive and museum created in 1998 to honor the contributions of the wives of U.S. presidents. The new facility, a former bank building, houses some 3,000 books and other research materials and will serve as a space for meetings and educational programs.Mrs. Bush, joined by the library’s founder and president Mary Regula, told the invitation-only crowd of 150, “I’ve wanted to come here since Mary told me about it, which was before I was first lady. The heartland of America is a fitting place to honor first ladies, who are the heart of the White House.” After the ceremony, Mrs. Bush visited the library’s collection of books that replicates the first White House Library, which was created by Mary Abigail Fillmore with a $2,000 appropriation from Congress in the 1850s. “For a former librarian, this is a great place to see,” Mrs. Bush said in the September 5 Canton Repository. “When Abigail Fillmore came to the White House, she was very upset that there were no books.” Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter dedicated the National First Ladies’ museum, located one block away, in 1998. It was designated a National Historic Site three years later. Posted September 8, 2003. |
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