10 ways to keep up attendance at a presidential library

Presidential libraries typically see a decline in attendance after the opening years. For President Barack Obama’s library and museum to deliver on its goals to revitalize Chicago’s South Side community, where it is slated to be built, it will have to find ways to keep people coming through the doors. According to attendance data collected from the National Archives and Records Administration and from the libraries themselves, the majority of the libraries saw a decline in attendance from their first year to 2014, though library directors said that data collection in years before 1975 was not consistent from library to library. In some cases, attendance data from the opening year to 2014 showed a decline of almost 80 percent.

Besides gathering attendance data, the Tribune also spoke to administrators at each of the presidential libraries about the best strategies for retaining visitors.

1Location matters

The libraries located in larger cities had higher attendance rates, a benefit the Obama Presidential Center, which will be located in Jackson Park or Washington Park, will have. Representatives from those in smaller cities said one of the main challenges in sustaining attendance levels was smaller population sizes.

“Our town is a little more than 2,300 people,” said Tom Schwartz, director of the Herbert Hoover Library and Museum in West Branch, Iowa. “We’re dealing in a very small community and a state without large population so it is a constant challenge for us to make this a destination.”

*Data from the 1976 fiscal year includes 18 months of attendance data, so it is not considered in our analysis of which year had the highest attendance.

But a small population doesn’t doom a library. Programming, including temporary and permanent exhibits, lecture series and outdoor activities, among other events, can bring in thousands of interested attendees, the directors said.

“We hit a low point in 2008, so we looked at the type of programming we had. At the time, we had only six to eight programs; now, we have 80 or 90. We had about 60,000 folks at the time, now we have close to 200,000,” said Karl Weissenbach, director at Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum. “Marketing our programs is key to our success since Abilene, a community of 6,500, is about 150 miles from large urban areas. We’ve taken steps to raise our profile and work toward getting other people to come here rather than just folks in Abilene, since Eisenhower was an international figure.”

*Data from the 1976 fiscal year includes 18 months of attendance data, so it is not considered in our analysis of which year had the highest attendance.

2Make events, programs free

For almost all the presidential libraries, the events and programming are free. There is usually an admission fee for the museum, but in some cases, even this is waived. Free events at the library and museum, or on the surrounding grounds, help the community create pleasant memories associated with the organization, which is an effective way to create a base of repeat visitors, said Warren Finch, director at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum.

“We do a Fourth of July celebration with the cooperation of Texas A&M and the College Station-Bryan Lions Clubs. There are bands playing on the ground, there’s a symphony concert, there are fireworks,” said Finch. “We open the museum that one day a year, from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., for free. For College Station, that’s the Fourth of July event; everyone comes to it.”

*Data from the 1976 fiscal year includes 18 months of attendance data, so it is not considered in our analysis of which year had the highest attendance.

3Get to know the neighborhood

Working closely with community groups near the library that have already tapped into the neighborhood is a key step in outreach, directors said. Co-sponsoring events and sharing knowledge can lead to more effective outreach.

“Our 1997 attendance spike was because that was the first time we hosted the 'White House In Miniature' exhibit, partnering with the Toy and Miniature Museum,” said Amy Williams, acting director at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum. “You could walk around it, see in all the windows and it was fully electrified. The level of detail is really amazing.”

Creating partnerships is an important step in becoming a member of the neighborhood, said Clinton Foundation spokesman Jordan Johnson.

“We have partnerships with the city, with the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. We help recruit tourism to the state. We help grow Little Rock and central Arkansas.”

4Partner with nearby universities

Universities are an automatic attendance boost because college students tend to look for interesting things to do around campus, and can provide an economic boost to the surrounding areas as well.

“The library needs to be vibrant and current. Access to students helps,” said Amy Barbee, executive director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation. “We’re on the University of Texas campus -- that’s a 50,000-student body we have access to for exhibits and events.”

*Data from the 1976 fiscal year includes 18 months of attendance data, so it is not considered in our analysis of which year had the highest attendance.

The university itself can also spark interesting exhibits, with the faculty providing a stable of potential speakers.

“We have a series with Southern Methodist University’s Center For Presidential History; we bring in historians, and that’s been very popular locally,” said Alan Lowe, director of George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. “Being at a great university like SMU, they have students and alums and partners in the community. We feel connected with them, even though we’re federal.”

*Data from the 1976 fiscal year includes 18 months of attendance data, so it is not considered in our analysis of which year had the highest attendance.

5Appeal to schools

For many of the presidential libraries, resources for younger students have helped the libraries create sustainable, lasting relationships with schools. Schoolchildren make up a significant portion of visitors for many of the presidential libraries, and they are often the most enthusiastic visitors, library directors said. Many libraries have also created workshops for educators on how to teach presidencies and time periods.

“The bump you see in 2003 is a result of our exhibiting one of three remaining broadside copies of the Declaration of Independence, which was advertised very heavily to school districts,” said Williams, of the Truman presidential library. “The schools brought kids in droves; we literally saw tens of thousands of kids walk through that exhibit.”

*Data from the 1976 fiscal year includes 18 months of attendance data, so it is not considered in our analysis of which year had the highest attendance.

“We have a very strong educational component here -- next year, we’ll be opening the 'Situation Room' project. It’s a very sophisticated role-playing experience where high school students at our library will work with students at the George W. Bush library to participate in a national crisis and make decisions,” said Duke Blackwood, director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. “We have two of the actual rooms from the White House Situation Room complex that have been installed at each library for the project. That’s one of the things we try to do; we want to engage the students so they get excited and tell everyone. We have gotten the brothers and sisters of students who have already come here excited about getting to participate.”

*Data from the 1976 fiscal year includes 18 months of attendance data, so it is not considered in our analysis of which year had the highest attendance.

Some presidential foundations also pay to bus students in.

“We have many school groups coming in, and we provide a bus program that brings students in for schools that can’t afford to fund the buses,” said James Roth, former acting director of Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum. “We have evenings for educators where we instruct teachers about the Carter presidency and help them make lesson plans. We also have a Book Nook program where we have reading books for toddlers, so we try to include everyone.”

*Data from the 1976 fiscal year includes 18 months of attendance data, so it is not considered in our analysis of which year had the highest attendance.

6Focus on more than the president

One way to keep interest in the museums is to make sure there are a variety of exhibits, directors said. Presidential libraries have featured exhibits on everything from dinosaurs to Oscar de la Renta.

“Our most successful temporary exhibit was called ‘Jacqueline Kennedy, The White House Years,’ said Tom Putnam, director of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. “It was a traveling exhibit on display at the Library in 2001 and 2002 and actually caused the spike in attendance in 2002.”

Unusual exhibits can draw those who wouldn’t typically visit a presidential library, many directors said.

“Right now, we have life-size dinosaurs in our museum -- they roar and move, said Johnson of the Clinton Foundation. "How does that relate to President Clinton and his administration? He was one of four presidents who set aside major plots of land that were rich in fossils. It’s really important to keep things active and interesting by bringing compelling temporary exhibits. We bring in a couple every year. We've had everything from Legos to space camp.”

*Data from the 1976 fiscal year includes 18 months of attendance data, so it is not considered in our analysis of which year had the highest attendance.

“Since Johnson’s presidency was in the '60’s, we had a '60’s-themed fashion show,” said Barbee from the LBJ presidential library. “There were artists from Austin that designed modern versions of fashions that (Lady Bird) Johnson wore. This brought in a much younger crowd than what we normally have.”

7Recruit a range of speakers

Speakers also don’t have to relate directly to the president.

“Gorbachev came here. Bryan Cranston came here. It’s very large and diverse,” said Barbee. “It’s not all political, though we try to tie into issues or policy.”

Most libraries are impartial to politics and reflect this in their speakers.

“We try to bring in nationally known speakers. It’s not always something related to the president,” said Finch, from the George Bush presidential library. “We had Ted Kennedy here a few years ago. We try to be bipartisan and have some diversity of thought in our speakers.”

8Change exhibits often

The biggest spikes in attendance came from the remodeling or changing of permanent exhibits, directors said. Many presidential library directors said that the biggest challenge for them is keeping a story that the public has probably heard many times new and interesting.

“The attendance spike in 2013 was because the library was rededicated following a three-year renovation that included the installation of all-new interactive, permanent exhibits,” said Robert Clark, director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, in an email.

*Data from the 1976 fiscal year includes 18 months of attendance data, so it is not considered in our analysis of which year had the highest attendance.

Refocusing exhibits on different aspects of the president and presidency is a great way to attract new visitors, directors said.

“We redesigned the museum in 1993, so it was like a brand new museum,” said Pullman, from the JFK presidential library, explaining an attendance spike that year. “We’re continuously working on refreshing the museum; we want to make it more interactive, with larger screens and digitized films. It’s important to keep reinvesting and finding new ways to tell a story that feels new to people.”

*Data from the 1976 fiscal year includes 18 months of attendance data, so it is not considered in our analysis of which year had the highest attendance.

9Celebrate anniversaries

Some of the most popular years for presidential libraries are the 20th, 30th or 50th anniversary years in office.

10Use technology

Online exhibits and documents are better for keeping records safe for decades to come, but they also make relevant content accessible to researchers, students and presidential enthusiasts across the country.

“We’re digitizing actively, and it’s bringing more and more people in," said Elaine Didier, director of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum. "We’re taking photographs of all our artifacts, so you’ll be able to see everything we own online. We have digitized and posted nearly 400,000 pages of textual material and 13,000 contact sheets from the White House Photographic Office.”

*Data from the 1976 fiscal year includes 18 months of attendance data, so it is not considered in our analysis of which year had the highest attendance.

Digital programs and activities make content about presidencies more appealing to students as well.

“We have a highly developed educational program here," Finch said. "We’re kind of the big city for the surrounding communities. We were able to reach 175,000 people last year through online programs. We’ve also been replacing our cores exhibits with newer technology. That’s helped the numbers too. We went from having three or four interactive exhibits to having 80 or 90.”