Build Coolidge a Library

President Calvin Coolidge is the last president not to have a modern, government-funded, presidential library. The thirtieth president would likely take pride in this fact. After all, in his autobiography, the president wrote that it was fortunate that former presidents were “not supported at public expense after leaving office.” Thanks to the state of Vermont and the Coolidge Family, Americans can learn about the president's life at his birthplace, Plymouth Notch, Vermont. But the time has come to give Coolidge a library--if not of bricks and mortar, then online. That is why the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation has launched a bold effort to build “30” a virtual library.

The best kind of library is one that people get to know and use.  Because Coolidge's legacy has never been aggregated, Coolidge’s vast collection of speeches, papers, letters, and photos are not readily available. This is a shame because Coolidge’s presidency is a shining example that can inspire Americans today. That’s why a digital library is ideal: a digital library provides access to anyone anywhere in the world.  

Building a library, even of the digital variety, is a big endeavor. The Coolidge Foundation is pleased to have the partnership of other institutions, including the Forbes Library of Northampton, Massachusetts, which houses an impressive collection of Coolidge primary source material. Given the scale of the project, it will be completed in three parts, all in time for the Coolidge Centennial in 2023:

Part One: “Coolidge the Orator.” Already underway, the Coolidge Speech Project is digitizing Coolidge’s speeches and press conferences. This is a logical starting place for the digital library because Coolidge’s speeches are national treasures, reminding us of the merit and work of sustaining our republic. In this phase, Coolidge’s press conferences are also being digitized, giving an intimate view of the day-to-day of his presidency and the issues that shaped America in the Coolidge years.

Part Two: “Coolidge the Policy Wonk.” This part will make available documents related to Coolidge’s policy career including signed bills, veto messages, executive orders, government budgets, and the like.

Part Three: “Coolidge: From Plymouth Notch through the Presidency.” The final part will highlight Coolidge the person as well as Coolidge the national leader through the digitization of Coolidge correspondence, photos, newspaper columns, and other materials, as well as a Coolidge bibliography and timeline.

Please support this project! Volunteers are already helping us check the texts of Coolidge’s forgotten speeches. But building these pages, organizing them, and supplying new and edited content to accompany texts requires financial resources. The Coolidge Foundation is a small foundation. Your gift will help bring presidential history to life. This digital library will share Silent Cal’s wisdom and timeless values with generations of Americans to come.

All donors will receive recognition on the website of the Coolidge digital library. We hope you will consider a gift at any of these levels, or at an amount meaningful to you:

          $500 -- COOLIDGE LIBRARIAN

          $100 -- COOLIDGE ARCHIVIST

          $50 -- COOLIDGE READER

You can also volunteer! Volunteer speech editors, our Coolidge Scribes, help edit documents to fix formatting errors that occur during the digitization process. Furthermore, to ensure this collection does not just collect digital dust, Coolidge Scribes assist the Foundation in additional research to provide important context on our web pages alongside the primary source materials. Libraries mean nothing if people don’t acquaint themselves with the collections. By inviting volunteers to serve as Coolidge Scribes and join us in shelving documents in our virtual stacks, our approach starts to address this challenge. More than 75 volunteers are rushing in to help, and more of them, too, are needed. Sign-up as a Coolidge Scribe by clicking this link. 

About the Coolidge Foundation:

Founded by the president's son, John Coolidge, the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation is dedicated to preserving the legacy and advancing the values of America’s thirtieth president. The Foundation runs a number of educational programs, including the Coolidge Scholarship for college and Coolidge High School Debate  programs. These programs encourage thousands of students each year to research and study the Coolidge presidency. These students represent a ready audience for the Coolidge Digital Library. The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that depends entirely on private donors for support. All donations to the Foundation are deductible within allowable IRS limits.