Jimmy Carter Presidential Library

This is a guest post by Kahlil G. Chism. Kahlil studied at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. He has taught American Studies, U. S. History, U. S. Government, English, Writing, and Intro to Classroom Computer Technology, at both the secondary and post-secondary levels. He currently serves as Education Specialist at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library & Museum. This post will be filed under the Resources page under Service Groups.

“Among the accomplishments that have given me the most satisfaction over the last four years are the contributions that my Administration has been able to make to the well-being of students and educators throughout the country.”

- President Jimmy Carter, State of the Union Address, January 16, 1981

The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum is part of the Presidential Library system administered by the National Archives and Records Administration, a federal government agency. A presidential library is like a time capsule. Inside, you can find important documents, letters, and artifacts. You will also find audiovisual materials, campaign memorabilia, and gifts to the President and First Family.

Shortly after taking office as President, Jimmy Carter indicated his interest in a Presidential Library to be built "someplace in Georgia." In December 1980, a search was undertaken for a suitable site for building the Jimmy Carter Library. After surveying a number of sites, one close to downtown Atlanta was selected. The land was owned by the state of Georgia, originally acquired to build an interstate highway. The highway project had been stopped by then Governor Carter. Approximately thirty acres of that land was acquired for the library's site, known today as Freedom Parkway. Ground breaking for the entire facility was held on October 2, 1984, the building was dedicated and the museum opened to the public on October 1, 1986, and the research room was opened January 28, 1987.

Our archives is a repository of approximately 27 million pages of Jimmy Carter's White House material, papers of administration associates, including documents, memoranda, correspondence, etc. There are also 1/2 million photographs, and hundreds of hours of film, audio and video tape. The diversity of media formats we hold make them ideal, not only for teaching the process of document analysis, but for teaching to the multiple intelligences. There is no better way to develop in your students the type of research habits and critical thinking skills so necessary to the development of a well-informed citizenry, than by teaching with primary sources and objects.

It is the hope of the Jimmy Carter Library education team that all students will develop civic literacy, understand the vital role that records and archives play in a democracy, and learn the importance of Jimmy Carter’s life and work to the state of Georgia, to the United States of America, and to the world. To that end, we have created standards-based resources and creative programming for teachers and students. Three particular initiatives we’d like to share with the TeacherAde audience are our JCL/Coca-Cola Foundation Field Trip Sponsorship program, our summer geography institute for social studies teachers, and The President’s Travels, our brand new curriculum guide to the Jimmy Carter Library and museum experience.

The Coca-Cola Foundation has provided us with transportation funds for Georgia schools to use to bring students to our newly-renovated museum for educational activities. After undergoing a $10 million renovation in 2009, our new award-winning museum is now one of the most high-tech, energy and environment-friendly museums in the country. We want you to come and visit an exact replica of the Carter oval office, spend A Day in the Life of a President, conduct interactive virtual research in our stacks, and learn about the post-presidency work of the Carter Center. Sponsorships are available to all schools within the state of Georgia. Please visit our website now to arrange for a field trip and apply for your field trip sponsorship.

This past June, in conjunction with the Georgia Geographic Alliance at Kennesaw State University, we sponsored a summer seminar for teachers: a week-long, residential, professional development workshop titled The President’s Travels. This standards-based institute was aimed at geography, social studies, and world history educators, grades five thru twelve. The focus of the institute was developing geographic literacy and the process of teaching with original historical documents. Participants left the institute with Georgia Performance Standards-correlated, classroom-ready geography lessons, as well as new ideas for using primary sources to teach social studies. The institute was attended by teachers from schools in Atlanta, Calhoun, Augusta, Snellville, Savannah, Thomasville, Covington, Jeffersonville, Macon, Lithonia, Hinesville, and Bogart, GA. And we’re going to hold the institute again in the summer of 2012. We hope you’ll join us. Stay tuned to JimmyCarterLibrary.gov for details.

Finally, this past year we also created a 19-unit curriculum guide titled The President’s Travels. Consisting of pre-visit, onsite, and post-visit lessons that cover such varied subjects and themes as U. S. History, U. S. Foreign Policy, Civics, Geography, Energy & Environment, Human Rights, Middle-East history and politics, and even Science & Health, this new curriculum uses the life and times of President Carter as a springboard to teach students about their world. Most of the lessons have a geography component, all of them are correlated to state and national learning standards, and they all make use of facsimiles of primary sources from our holdings: documents, reports, maps, photographs, letters, diaries, posters, artifacts, and recordings created by those who participated in the events of the past.

For more details about resources and programs, please contact Kahlil Chism, Education Specialist, Jimmy Carter Library and Museum, at Kahlil.Chism@nara.gov, or 404-865-7126.