Many students are aware of possibly the University's most famous alum, as well as the University's Most Valuable Football Player in 1934 - former President Gerald Ford. However, students may not be familiar with the expansive research opportunities offered at the Gerald R. Ford Library. The library is open to everyone: students, teachers, attorneys, journalists, mass media productionists and interested citizens.
There is one catch: The library is probably one of the few places on campus where studying is unwelcome, though it may be the ideal place to study with its serene atmosphere and contemporary furnishings. The library's facilities are strictly for research purposes only.
Nestled among trees and bushes with fall leaves of gold, crimson and bronze, the Ford Library is located on North Campus at 1000 Beal Ave., approximately a three-minute walk from the North Campus Recreation Building. Although the Ford Library is located on University grounds, the library is not affiliated with the University, but is maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration.
After completing a research application form, on-site users are only allowed into the research room located on the library's second floor. One of the 10 staff members will assist researchers by obtaining requested documents from the archives and then bringing them directly to the research room. About three to four work-study University students also work at the library each term assisting the staff.
"One of the nice things (about the library) is the interaction between the library and the University student population. The library is a unique resource because it offers students a chance to speak with a former president or other government officials," said Richard L. Holzhausen, a member of the library's staff.
The library, a modern brick building uniquely constructed with an odd but pleasant architectural design, has sharp angles randomly jutting out from all corners.
Nearly 20 million original historical documents, such as telephone notes, campaign plans, correspondence and meeting minutes, are filed on honey-colored shelves in the library's archives. Three floors of archives contain a cornucopia of documents from the Ford administration ranging from Richard Nixon's pardon to documents on the fall of Saigon during the Vietnam War and more. Original copies of all hearings and testimonies from the Warren Commission - labeled with a crossed-out "Top Security" in red ink at the top - pertaining to President John F. Kennedy's assassination are accessible at the library. In the basement of the library a massive gray metal door indicates a security vault housing papers of national security.
A similar metal door opens the room to a temperature-controlled cold storage vault where more than 283,000 photographs and negatives are stored. The room is kept at 40 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent color photographs from fading. A room similar to a large freezer, only members of the staff are permitted inside, but archivists can retrieve photographs for researchers.
As one walks through the main hall of the library listening to the gentle whirring of fans, large billboard pictures of former president Ford loom on many of the walls alongside photographs of Richard Nixon. One photograph captures a memorable moment in black and white with President Ford watching the presidential campaign on his television when the headline, "Ford Wins!" shoots across the screen. Campaign banners of red, white and blue dangle from the ceiling adding a patriotic decor to the library.
Off one wing on the first floor of the library a glass room with a table on which a model airplane rests can be seen. This airplane, in a lift-off pose, was a gift to President Ford by the crew of Air Force One. At the rear end of the room a door leading to Ford's presidential office can be seen. The office, appropriately with the best view of a garden and a moving sculpture, is visited by the former president about one day a year. His desk and leather chair face opposite of the door to the office while simultaneously allowing President Ford to observe the view outside his window, perhaps while smoking one of the two pipes resting on the desk.
Behind President Ford's desk are the American and Michigan flags and a painting of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Many gifts as well as photographs are sprawled across the room. Since numerous people are rumored to have not believed that President Ford himself frequented this office, he set up pictures of himself in the office itself for the nonbelievers.
A delicate blue and white porcelain vase with intricate drawings of flowers lies on a shelf near the pictures and also near a book with grand pictures of the Buckingham Palace. The vase is a gift from the former Japanese Emperor Hirohito and the Empress Nagako whereas the book was a Bicentennial gift from Queen Elizabeth on her visit to the United States. While President Ford's football jersey can be seen upstairs near the research room, most items from the Ford administration are housed at the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids.
The library proved more than useful according to one fourth-year LSA University student, Megan Henry.
"It's a huge base of primary documents. The staff is really sharp. As long as you know what interests you, you can find basically anything that happened internationally and nationally under Ford's term," she said.
The Gerald R. Ford Library may be the only place in Michigan where one can actually handle historical documents which in itself would make a visit to the library worthwhile. Perhaps, one may even find oneself shoulder to shoulder with the former president himself.
JEANNIE SERVAAS/Daily
GOP memorabilia referring to the former president lines the walls of the Gerald R. Ford Library on North Campus.