IT and History: White House Historical Association mounts a new project

The USA is going to set up a digital and online resource center connected to more than 100 presidential libraries and the archives of the White House Historical Association. Interactive programs for students and teachers are planned, as well as a White House Teachers’ Institute.

The launch of the project coincided with 50th anniversary of the White House Historical Association, which was established in 1961 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The new project is funded by a $10 million gift from financier and philanthropist David M. Rubenstein. The gift was announced at the White House by First Lady Michelle Obama.

The center will be located at the Decatur House which currently houses the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The institute will be named the David M. Rubenstein National Center for White House History. Rubenstein, who worked in the Jimmy Carter White House, is the co-founder and managing director of The Carlyle Group. Currently he is the chairman of the Kennedy Center board and has given large monetary gifts to the center and the Library of Congress. A believer in the written lessons of history, Rubenstein has purchased and then lent several documents, including the Magna Carta to the National Archives and a signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation to the White House.