Monthly Adventures: August 2022
As I continue my Monthly Adventures series, I decided to check out the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum in Austin, TX. My family loves visiting museums and it's something I've continued to do as I've grown older. Unlike Houston, there isn't a dedicated museum district in Austin and that makes it a little more complicated to do any museum hopping. So, after 7 years of thinking about going to the LBJ Presidential Library, I finally went this month to enjoy a peaceful Saturday afternoon of "me time" and learning.
Arriving at the LBJ Presidential Library
I thought it would be a good idea to check out the library because of my love for museums. However, there was an added bonus to this visit because I have never been exposed to such extensive information about LBJ's presidency. I knew of a few items he signed into law during the Civil Rights era and that he was from Texas, but that was pretty much it. History books in Texas public schools have limited details on the history of the state and the country. Combine that with the limited amount of time in a single academic year to cover content from textbooks and it becomes somewhat easy to overlook many of historical moments that occurred throughout an individual president's administration.
If it's not obvious by now, I love to learn! I was really looking forward to visiting the library for the first time and nothing was going to bring me down on my relaxing afternoon. Even when I ended up in the wrong parking lot, I wasn't stressed about it because I was so relaxed for the first time in too many years to count. Parking is free at the LBJ Presidential Library, so I just went right to the 10-story building to begin my visit once I found the correct parking lot.
Exploring the LBJ Presidential Library
While there are 10 stories in the building, most of them are just for maintaining the vast amount of records from the presidency. Guests enter on the 3rd floor and go through a brief bag check before getting tickets taken care of at the front desk. You can purchase tickets in advance online which is something I always recommend doing for any ticketed event when possible. If you're a student, faculty, or staff at The University of Texas at Austin, admission is free when you show your university ID card. After a brief overview for navigating the museum from one of the library volunteers, you go on to start learning more about LBJ through an 11-minute introduction video. Then, you continue to make your way around the 3rd floor and up to the 4th floor. These floors emphasize the timeline of events leading up to LBJ's presidency, what occurred during his administration, and significant moments after his presidency concluded. His family was clearly very important to his life and there was an exhibit dedicated to Lady Bird Johnson along with many pictures of his children and grandchildren. There was a small sculpture garden on the 4th floor along with a gallery dedicated to Yoichi Okamoto, the prolific photographer who captured significant historical events in addition to the LBJ presidency. Also on the 4th floor are the presidential official portraits and those of their spouses. You can also see the plethora of volumes that are housed between the 4th and 10th floors. Unsurprisingly, the Seal of the President of the United States is everywhere, including the walls and ceilings.
Another cool feature of the library that can be found everyone are phones. Like LBJ had, there are lots of phones nearly everywhere you go. He also insisted on recording all of his calls on the many phones he kept around him, so the phones that are spread throughout the library allow you the opportunity to hear some different selections of those recordings that are relevant to the featured time period or exhibit theme. There's even a few phone call recordings on the 10th floor which serves as a nice conclusion to the library visit. On the 10th floor, you get to see interesting items that didn't necessarily fit into the timelines or themes on the 3rd or 4th floors. You also get to see more items on display that are unique to Lady Bird Johnson, including a replica of her office. The 10th floor is also home to Oval Office replica from the LBJ White House and that was one of my favorite moments of checking out the library! I think the replica really helped to bring together all of the images, videos, phone call recordings, and other exhibit features by piecing the small details together into a cohesive physical space.
Wrap-Up
On my way out of the LBJ Presidential Library, I got to see the presidential limo and, of course, stop by the gift shop. I collect key chains and made sure to purchase one to add to my collection. I also bought a Presidential Library Passport which I was able to have stamped and dated at the register. This was such a cool and fun afternoon of touring the LBJ Presidential Library! I went solo as did several other visitors, but it's also a good place to go with your group of friends or family.
This was my first trip to a presidential library and it was a great experience! Now that I have this passport, I need to fill it up with more stamps. There's presidential libraries in College Station and Dallas that I can visit with relative ease, so those will likely be my next ones to check out. I have my Monthly Adventures series, but maybe I need to start a series about visiting presidential libraries. Let me know in the comments or on social media if you think I should start a presidential libraries series. For now, I'm focused on making the most of my monthly adventure for September and other general blog posts!
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