Atlanta - Jimmy Carter Library and Museum

The Jimmy Carter Library and Museum in Atlanta, Georgia houses U.S. President Jimmy Carter's papers and other material relating to the Carter administration and the Carter family's life. The library also hosts special exhibits, such as Carter's Nobel Peace Prize and a full-scale replica of the Oval Office, including a copy of the Resolute Desk.

 

The Carter Library and Museum includes some parts that are owned and administered by the federal government, and some that are privately owned and operated. The library and museum are run by the National Archives and Records Administration and are part of the Presidential Library system of the federal government. Privately-owned areas house Carter's offices and the offices of the Carter Center, a non-profit human rights agency.

 

The library was built in the Poncey-Highland neighborhood of Atlanta, on land that had been acquired by the state of Georgia DOT, for an interchange between two redundant highways that were cancelled by Carter when he was governor of Georgia, in response to the Atlanta freeway revolts. (See Interstate 485, Georgia 400, Interstate 675, and the Stone Mountain Freeway.) Construction started on October 2, 1984, and the library was opened to the public on Carter's 62nd birthday, October 1, 1986. The remainder of the land around the complex is now a parkway and linear city park called Freedom Parkway, which was originally called "Presidential Parkway" (and at one point, "Jimmy Carter Parkway" in its planning stages.

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