George W. Bush Presidential Library

The George W. Bush Presidential Library serves as a resource for the study of the life and career of George W. Bush, while also promoting a better understanding of the Presidency, American history, and important issues of public policy. **Archival Collection** The primary mission of every Presidential Library is providing [information](https://www.georgewbushlibrary.gov/research). The Bush Library has an immense set of [archival collections](http://www.georgewbushlibrary.gov/research/presidential-records). To learn more about the Archives check out the [Research](https://www.georgewbushlibrary.gov/research) section. First, what differentiates the Bush Library collections from earlier presidential libraries is the size of its electronic records archive. The Library has approximately 80 terabytes of [electronic information](https://www.georgewbushlibrary.gov/research/presidential-records/electronic-records), including 200 million email messages. If these emails were printed, they would total more than 1 billion pages. Second, the textual collection consists of roughly 70 million pages of paper records. This collection includes not only [Bush’s presidential records](https://www.georgewbushlibrary.gov/research/presidential-records) but also his [gubernatorial records](https://www.georgewbushlibrary.gov/research/gubernatorial-records), which the Library holds in partnership with the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Third, the audiovisual archive is enormous with about 30,000 audiovisual recordings, 227 cubic feet of photo negatives, and just over 3.8 million photographs. The Bush administration converted to digital photography in 2005, so this presidential library has many more photographs than any of its predecessors. This immense volume of materials provides a wonderful resource for research, but also poses a challenge for the National Archives. For example, due to the volume of electronic records, when researchers were first permitted to make [Freedom of Information Act requests](https://www.georgewbushlibrary.gov/research/finding-aids/submit-foia-request) [](https://www.georgewbushlibrary.gov/research/research-support/how-submit-foia-request)(FOIA) to view Bush presidential records in January 2014, more records were requested within the first week than have been processed at the [Ronald Reagan Presidential Library](http://www.reaganfoundation.org/library-and-museum-overview.aspx) in 25 years.