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What is the Clinton Digital Library?

Research Room

The Clinton Digital Library is a virtual research room and digital repository that provides free and open access to the digitized collections of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum to everyone, anywhere in the world. Whether you are a lover of history, a student working on a school project, or a scholar, the Clinton Digital Library allows you to keyword search for archival documents, videos, audio recordings, and photographs and to search, browse, and view whole files, just as you could if you came to the Library’s research room in-person.

What can you find in the Clinton Digital Library?

Digital copies of documents, photographs, videos, and audio recordings from the archives of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum. The Clinton Digital Library contains over 3 million pages of archival documents, over 400 audio recordings, photographs and many streaming videos. Users can keyword search or browse the digital collections. Documents include the Clinton Administration's work on domestic policy issues such as health care, tobacco, child care, education, women's issues; as well as declassified documents on foreign policy, speechwriter's files on all manner of topics concerning President Clinton's travels and policy agenda, as well as audio recordings including the President's weekly radio address to the nation, and streaming videos from the many speeches, bill signings, and events attended by President Clinton and the White House staff.

Is everything digitized?

Not yet. The William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum is working hard to make as many collections available online as possible, but even with 3 million pages currently available the Clinton Digital Library contains less than 5% of the total collection. The William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum physically houses over 78 million pages of documents, 20 million emails, 2 million photographs, and 12,500 videotapes.

Digitizing

The Clinton Digital Library has been digitizing documents, video, audio, and photographs for online access since the opening of the library in 2004. In 2010 the William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum staff digitized over 165,000 pages concerning the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan. After that historic achievement, the Library kept the momentum going and has since digitized over 3 million additional pages. The Clinton Digital Library would not be able to exist or thrive without the assistance of the staff of the Lyndon B. Johnson Library & Foundation. All of the Clinton Digital Library's digitized collections are also available to online users of the National Archives Catalog.