The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum is a complex located in

Staunton, Virginia Staunton ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,750. In Virginia, independent cities are separate jurisdictions from the counties that surround them, so the government off ...

. It contains the President's birthplace, known as the Manse, a Museum that explores the life and times of

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

(1856–1924), a Research Library, a gift shop, and several other buildings that are not open to the public. Like all United States presidential libraries for administrations prior to that of Herbert Hoover, Wilson's is not part of the Federal National Archives'

presidential library system In the United States, the presidential library system is a nationwide network of 15 libraries administered by the Office of Presidential Libraries, which is part of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). These are repositories ...

The Birthplace Manse

The Woodrow Wilson Birthplace is referred to as the Manse, which is the name of a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their n ...

minister's home. It was built in 1846 by the Staunton First Presbyterian Church. It has 12 rooms with 12 fireplaces and cost around $4,000 to build. The Wilson family moved into the house in 1855 as his father was ordained as a Presbyterian pastor and called to serve as a pastor in Staunton. At that time the family consisted of his parents—Jessie Woodrow Wilson and Joseph Ruggles Wilson—and their two daughters Marion and Annie, who were about four and two years old, respectively. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in what is now called the "birth room" on December 28, 1856. The Wilsons left the Manse in 1858 when Joseph Wilson accepted a call from a congregation in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Geor ...

. an
''Accompanying photo''
/ref> Wilson continued to visit Staunton throughout his life often referring to it as home. After his 1912 presidential election, Wilson and Ellen visited Staunton over his birthday in December of that year and spent two nights in the Manse as a guest of his good friend Rev Frazier who was then the Minister at the First Presbyterian Church of Staunton. After the Wilsons moved out of the Manse it remained the Presbyterian minister's until the 1920s. It was after the former President's death in 1924 that his widow Edith Bolling Galt Wilson along with former cabinet members and Staunton community members decided to create a Birthplace museum to commemorate Wilson's life. The Woodrow Wilson Birthplace Foundation was officially incorporated in 1938, and the house was restored to its 1850s look over the next 80 years, which included removing bathrooms, changing light fixtures, and stripping paint. The house was opened to the public in 1941, being formally dedicated as a museum by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The property was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...

in 1964, and was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1966. It is located in the Gospel Hill Historic District.

The Library

The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library houses

materials from during and immediately after his lifetime, memoirs of those who worked with him, and governmental volumes concerning World War I. The library is located at 235 East Beverley Street in

. It boasts the third largest collection of Woodrow Wilson Papers. Wilson's official papers are located at

The Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

. Princeton University also maintains a large collection of Wilson papers from his tenure as Professor and President of the university. The Woodrow Wilson Library focuses on the digitization all of the President's papers and other materials in order to make the papers more accessible to the general public. It is open to researchers by appointment only.

The Museum

The Museum—opened to the public in 1990—is on North Coalter street two doors down from the Manse and in front of the library. The Museum contains eight museum galleries that focus on the life and times of Wilson. Highlights of the museum include the president's 1919 Pierce-Arrow limousine http://www.woodrowwilson.org/museum/pierce-arrow and an interactive trench exhibit based on a World War I trench.

References

External links

Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library"Life Portrait of Woodrow Wilson"
from

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

's '' American Presidents: Life Portraits'', broadcast from the Woodrow Wilson Birthplace, September 13, 1999
Manse, Frederick & Coalter Streets, Staunton, Staunton, VA
3 photos, 1 color transparency, 8 measured drawings, 4 data pages, and 1 photo caption page at

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Woodrow, Presidential Library Presidential homes in the United States Historic house museums in Virginia National Historic Landmarks in Virginia Presidential libraries Woodrow Wilson Libraries in Virginia Houses completed in 1846 Presidential museums in Virginia Museums in Staunton, Virginia Historic American Buildings Survey in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Staunton, Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Virginia Houses in Staunton, Virginia Birthplaces of individual people

The Birthplace Manse

The Library

The Museum

See also

References

External links