From the outside, it's a very unusual building. A lot of people derisively call it a trailer on stilts. It's actually a very open building. Lots of nice views of Little Rock, and the surrounding areas. It's also extremely environmentally friendly. From what I understand, they even have a "green" roof, where they grow many of the vegetables for the cafeteria inside.
It's really a beautiful campus. I like the building, it's right by the Arkansas River, they have a couple of very nice reflecting pools that give a strong, but soothing water fall type sound.
This building is the actual library. There's a long hallway leading to this,but you need special access to enter. Most of the archives are actually underground, to protect items from the abundant sunlight the building lets in.
The old rusty bridge in the background is now part of a long walking trail that circuits much of downtown Little Rock
There's a special LEGO exhibit running right now, more on that later.
As you walk in the door, you are met by a very friendly greeter, and pointed to the security area. As this is a federal building, they do have a metal detector...so be prepared for that. After that, you head into the main atrium where you get tickets, and see Clinton's limo.
Ticket desk.
I have to note one oddity in the building design at this point. In the atrium picture above, you see a set of stairs. There are 13 stairs. They lead to a landing that leads to...escalators. You have to climb stairs to get to the escalator. I'm going to guess that the architect was making a statement about the original 13 colonies...but that's just a guess.
Once you hit the 2nd floor, you are pointed towards a small, circular theater. In this theater, you watch a 13 or so minute long film (what is it with this museum and 13?), narrated by Bill Clinton, about his life and presidency. It's a nice set up to the rest of the museum, and worth watching.
Outside of the theater, showing assorted items from Clinton's first presidential run.
The next room is one of the two real showpieces of the museum. It is a full-sized replica of Clinton's cabinet room. In this room, you can sit at the table, and read up on some of the more important policies of his time in office, such as balancing the budget, and the Kosovo crisis. This is a great room, both for photo opportunities, and for reading up on just how complex certain aspects of the job are.
The Presidential Chair...it's comfy. It's also about two inches taller than the other chairs
Policy touchscreen computers
Finally, we get to the real meat and potatoes of the museum. This area is what they call the Timeline and Alcove Exhibit area. Sorry for the dark looking pictures, there's a lot of natural backlighting here, I can assure you in person that the light levels are always quite comfortable.
The Timeline is exactly what you'd think it would be. A year by year timeline of major world events, and special dates related to the Clinton Presidency.
These binders hold photocopies of Clinton's daily schedules
My birthday, 1996... part of the day had been redacted...ooh. I have to admit, I felt rather spy-like holding this binder, taking pictures of the schedules.
Marshall Applewhite and Comet Hale-Bopp even made it in!
Across from these timeline panels are the "alcove exhibits". Each of these exhibits focuses attention on a different policy area. You'll read about everything from budget and racial issues, to the Lewinsky Incident, to space travel.
These pillars run the length of the building, on both levels. They are filled with White House correspondence. The papers in all these pillars COMBINED is only 3% of all the paperwork created during Clinton's terms in office.
Fancy carpets on hardwood floors in the alcove areas
These are letters from Buzz Aldrin and John Glenn. John Glenn's was written from space.
At the end of a level is a tall staircase going to the 3rd level. However, if you take this staircase, you kind of walk in to the wrong side of the upstairs exhibit, in my opinion. It is a nice place to stop though, and look out onto the surrounding area. You also miss out on the rest of the 2nd floor. So let's look out the window, and then head back to the backside of the timeline.
The backside of the timeline panels show some of the letters written to and from Bill and Hillary Clinton during their stay in the White House. Across from these are more (and larger) alcove exhibits.
Letter from Mother Teresa
Letter from the Dalai Lama
Pages from the final draft of a State of the Union Address
Letter From Arsenio Hall, I love the fact he has his face as a watermark on his own stationary
Dom DeLuise
Mr. Rogers!
Across from these letters, are more alcove exhibits. These are much larger than the others (seemingly dealing with more worldwide issues). One of the aspects of these that stand out more than the other alcove style exhibits are that they show off a lot more of the actual artifacts that were given to the Clintons.
Northern Ireland caricature chess set
A book of Biblical lithographs, given by Yitzhak Rabin
Building a Global Community exhibit
The 1994 Budget. No wonder these things are so hard to balance!
At this point, you wander back to the escalators, and head up to the third floor. Once there, you start out with the other showpiece exhibit. A recreation of the Oval Office. Now, sadly, you can't actually walk in to the room (many of the artifacts are real, though there are several reproductions as well), but you can see it from many angles, and it does give you a real sense of the room.
The obligatory museum moon rock...
And now for something completely different...
After looking at the Oval Office for a while, there is a small travelling exhibit gallery. On this trip, there was an exhibit of LEGO sculptures. "Nathan Sawaya: The Art of the Brick" is a neat exhibition. Honestly, after I left this exhibit, I went and bought myself a couple sets to build. The artist used to be a lawyer, but found out he could make more money being happy, and doing these wild sculptures... here are a few.
According to some of the workers, Sawaya said this was the hardest to build.
Sadly, this exhibit is only going to be there a couple more weeks. Still, if you have a shot...go check it out, it's worth it.
After leaving the traveling exhibit hall, we reach the main third floor exhibit. This is much more lighthearted fare. "Life in the White House" is a collection of items used in the White House, and items given to the President over the years. Everything from sports memorabilia, to unique works of art.
Overview of entire museum from the third floor.
A Dale Chihuly sculpture
An actual Olympic torch
Cool handmade chess set
Nightmare fuel. The Hillary Clinton was not added by the museum, it was made by the chair maker as well.
Presidential Easter Eggs
Some of Clinton's saxophones. I know one of these (I believe it's the second one from the left) is the one he played on Arsenio Hall's show.
Socks the Cat art
Bill didn't look too happy in this portrait
Some of the sports items.
One final overview of the museum
Arkansas River
Down the other side of this level were several showcases of some of Bill and Hillary's items from their youth. From Bill's Student Council campaign poster, to pics of the couple in college in the 1970s. I don't have any pictures of this area, mainly because I didn't think anything really stood out.
Regardless of your political leanings, I think this is quite an interesting way to spend a few hours. It's not as big as I would have imagined, so for most folks 2-3 hours should be sufficient to tour the museum.
There is a cafe in the basement that is only open most days from 11 AM - 2 PM. As for a gift shop, it's a couple blocks away. Apparently, there are some rules about selling items in federal buildings. Thankfully, the Clinton folks run a free shuttle to the store. This shuttle also drops you off near an area with several other museums, and lots of great places to eat.
In all honestly, because parking is free at the museum...my best travel tip for Little Rock is to park at the Clinton Library, and take the little shuttle into downtown, and either walk, or use the trolley system. The trolley only costs a couple dollars, and gives you a great tour of Little Rock, as well as easy access to most of the interesting sites.
I have one more Little Rock post, hopefully in the next week or so. It will cover a science museum, an organization trying to end world hunger, and the site of one of the 20th Century's most important civil rights struggles.
Thanks for reading, please comment if you enjoyed it...and if you have other suggestions for places I should visit. I'm nearest central Ohio. I have a few more places in the immediate area (including where I work!) to visit, but can always use more ideas in the surrounding area, or other places in case I get to travel.
