Past vs. president : interpretation and public approval at the George W. Bush Presidential Library.

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Abstract

Presidential libraries are institutions not wholly public nor completely private. Their distinct structure has inspired a body of work which paints these centers as presidential temples, sites of self-commemoration, memory, and biased history. Biased interpretations can have many consequences especially in regard to the assumed trustworthiness of museums in America. Consequently, this thesis explores this idea of commemoration via the lens of museum studies. Using the George W. Bush library in Dallas, Texas as a case study, this research examines interpretation of events correlated to particularly low points of public approval for the former president within the museum galleries to determine if this bias is present in the most recent presidential library to join NARA.

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Presidential libraries. NARA. George W Bush. Public approval. Museum studies. Interpretation.

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