Honoring the memory of Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th president, the Hayes family established a presidential library, the first in the United States. Opened in 1916, this library preserves President Hayes' 12,000-volume personal library along with arcihval material from his military and political career, particularly his presidency (1877-1881). Over the years, the staff has expanded the collection to over 70,000 books which reflect Hayes' special interests, including genealogy and local history, and the Gilded Age period in which he lived.

Information regarding cataloged books, periodicals, and special collections materials can be accessed through the BGSU Libraries Catalog, which is a component of OhioLINK, a statewide library and information network. Our materials are also cataloged on WorldCat, but may not show up on the free public site - www.worldcat.org

Hours: Monday through Saturday: 9 am to 5 pm

Closed Sundays and federal holidays.

All collections in the Library are open to the public, for non-circulating use only. Most Ohio and genealogy books are in the Reading Room, available for browsing. Staff members retrieve other materials from the closed stacks for users. Unless the condition of the material prohibits it, all print items may be photocopied

Services:

• Black and white copier ($.25 a page; $.50 a page 11 x 17)
• Color copier ($1.00 a page, $2.00 11 x 17)
• 4 microfilm readers
• 1 microfilm reader/printer ($.25 a copy)
• 1 microfilm reader/scanner- scans microfilm and prints copies to a laser printer ($.25 a copy)
• 5 internet-connected computers available to the public with no reservation times.

The copy machines are not coin-operated; copy costs are totaled at the end of research time.

Besides scheduled genealogy classes, tours and instructional presentations are available upon request. To find dates of upcoming classes, click here and "search events by category" - genealogy.

The Hayes Presidential Library in 1952