The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum has a new look, but it is not rewriting history. For more than a year, Iowa’s only presidential museum and library was closed to undergo a $20 million renovation.
After celebrating Hoover’s 150th birthday in 2024 and as the USA continues its 250th celebrations, the museum is unveiling its first renovation in more than 30 years.
Midwest presidential legacies have experienced a recent resurgence, with the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago opening in June, and the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library welcoming its first guests in Medora, North Dakota, in July.
Next up is West Branch, where the museum dedicated to Iowa’s only president reopens Thursday, Aug. 6, offering a fresh look at Hoover’s one-term in office and his complicated place in American history.
“The reopening of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum is about much more than a beautifully renovated building,” said Allan Hoover III, Chairman of the Hoover Presidential Foundation Board of Directors, and great-grandson of President Herbert Hoover, in a news release. “It is an opportunity to honor President Hoover’s extraordinary legacy of humanitarian service, innovation, leadership and public service while inspiring future generations through his remarkable life story.”
What is the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum?
Just off Interstate 80 at exit 254 in West Branch is a unique gathering of presidential history featuring a national park and 16 buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, was born in West Branch in 1874.
The museum and library share ground with the National Park Service-managed Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, which includes Hoover’s birthplace, his and his wife’s graves and other historic structures associated with the 31st president and the town where he was born.
The museum and library opened on Aug. 28, 1962, on Hoover’s 88th birthday. It was last renovated in a 1992 expansion. The Hoover Library is one of 15 presidential libraries in the National Archives system.
The recent museum renovation reimagined how Hoover’s story is told. Through new exhibits and expanded context, the campus presents both sides of the late Iowan’s legacy, from his humanitarian achievements to the challenges of his presidency.
The $20 million renovation was funded through a combination of federal appropriations and private fundraising led by the Hoover Presidential Foundation, along with individual donors.
What visitors can expect at the newly renovated Hoover Library and Museum
The project expanded the building by 2,200 square feet to just a shade under 50,000 square feet while also bringing the facility to ADA standards. Galleries feature new interactive displays, allowing guests to touch certain artifacts, like a section of the Berlin Wall, along with new materials, like Hoover’s marriage license.
The museum presents the Hoover family’s story as a shared journey, while giving greater prominence to first lady Lou Henry Hoover’s accomplishments.
“Our goal was to create an immersive museum that’s an experience museum. We want to engage as many of the senses as possible, and put visitors in settings at different points in Hoover’s life,” Director of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum Thomas Schwartz told the Press-Citizen. “So that it engages [gallery-goers] with factual information but also creates an emotional narrative.”
A choose-your-own Herbert Hoover adventure
Guests can pick their own journey in West Branch, starting with “Years of Adventure” or “Years of Service.”
“Years of Adventure” introduces Hoover and Lou Henry Hoover’s early days in Iowa to their meeting at Stanford and their world travels together with their two children, before leading into “Years of Service.”
The “Years of Service” exhibit highlights the Hoovers’ international humanitarian efforts through the Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB) and Herbert Hoover’s time as president, including the gallery, “War on a Thousand Fronts,” which covers the Great Depression. Through an immersive storytelling experience, the gallery explores the major causes of the crises, the Hoover administration’s response, and the impact on the American people.
The gallery’s exhibits specifically emphasize historical context and ask visitors to reflect on the Hoover family’s values.
“Too often we think of them as though they were living in our time and with our values and outlook on the world, and we want them to be relatable, but also for people to understand they are different,” Schwartz said. “Their values were based, you know, on certain things that may not be widespread today, but were at the time.
[The gallery looks] at what the Hoovers thought was the responsibility of an individual to their neighbors, to the larger community. Those seem to be timeless questions and values.”
Free events planned for Herbert Hoover Museum reopening on Aug. 6
The Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum and Library is hosting a free opening ceremony at 1 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 6, on the East Lawn. The event will feature remarks from Gov. Kim Reynolds, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker, and Hoover’s great-grandchildren Alan Hoover III and Margaret Hoover. Musical performances will be accompanied by free museum admission until 6 p.m.
The Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum and Library will be open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Jessica Rish is an entertainment, dining and education reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. She can be reached at JRish@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @rishjessica_
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Tour Iowa’s only presidential library following its $20M renovation
Reporting by Jessica Rish, Iowa City Press-Citizen / Iowa City Press-Citizen
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jessica Rish, Iowa City Press-Citizen | USA TODAY Network
