Qualla: Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum: Introduction

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sallyrob at English Wikipedia, Public domain. The phone rang at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum. A caller wanted directions. The voice on the other end told them how to get there, then added cheerfully that he was 'the man himself.' It was not a joke. After his presidency ended in 1953, Harry Truman worked at the library five or six days a week, personally training docents, holding impromptu press conferences for visiting schoolchildren, and occasionally answering the telephone. He arrived before the staff most mornings. The library was his creation -- the first presidential library built under the provisions of the 1955 Presidential Libraries Act -- and he treated it with the pride and attention of a man who had spent years fundraising for it by attending dinners, making speeches, and writing thousands of personal letters.

Image: Sallyrob at English Wikipedia | Public domain

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum: A Hilltop Dedication

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided, Public domain. Built on a hill overlooking the Kansas City skyline, on land donated by the City of Independence, the library was dedicated on July 6, 1957. The ceremony included Masonic Rites of Dedication and was attended by former president Herbert Hoover -- then the only living former presid...

Image: Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided | Public domain

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum: Where Medicare Was Born

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0. The library became a stage for presidential history beyond Truman's own story. On July 30, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson chose this building -- not the White House -- to sign the Medicare Act, honoring Truman as an early champion of national health insurance. Visitors after T...

Image: Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada | CC BY-SA 2.0

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum: The Million-Dollar Mystery

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit User:Charvex, Public domain. The museum has been victimized by two significant burglaries. In March 1962, Treasury Secretary John Wesley Snyder donated 450 rare coins to the museum. That November, burglars stole the entire collection. None were recovered. Snyder coordinated 147 coin collectors to reconstruct...

Image: User:Charvex | Public domain

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum: The Office That Time Forgot

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit General Services Administration. National Archives and Records Service. Office of Educational Programs. Education Division. ?-4/1/1985, Public domain. When Truman left the White House in 1953, he set up an office in Room 1107 of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He transferred it to the library when the building opened in 1957. In the office, he wrote articles, letters, and his book Mr. Citizen. A $1.6 million preservati...

Image: General Services Administration. National Archives and Records Service. Office of Educational Programs. Education Division. ?-4/1/1985 | Public domain