Special exhibit examines President Hayes’ love of reading
Throughout his life, President Rutherford B. Hayes was a ravenous reader.
He amassed more than 8,000 books in his personal library. As a young man, he was a founding member of the Cincinnati Literary Club.
From the tales of Charles Dickens and Mark Twain to the poetry of Lord Byron to the writings of Thomas Jefferson, he pored over the pages of many genres.
The newest special exhibit at the Hayes Presidential Library & Museums explores the authors and titles that shaped and inspired him. “Inside President Hayes’ Library” opened Friday, March 28, 2025, and will remain on display through Tuesday, June 30, 2026.
Access to the exhibit is included with regular admission, and Hayes Presidential members are admitted for free. For hours and admission, visit https://www.rbhayes.org/main/visit-us/.
Throughout the exhibit, visitors see volumes Hayes himself held as he read through their pages. Displayed books include Hayes copies of Shakespeare, Charles Dickens novels and “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes, for which Hayes taught himself Spanish so he could read it.
“I today formed the purpose to study the Spanish language enough to read Don Quixote,” Hayes wrote in his diary on Oct. 10, 1873. “Yesterday I bought of Mr. Curtis one hundred and sixty volumes for Birchard Library. He threw in a few Spanish books of small value. It occurs to me I can easily learn to translate.”
Other books cover issues of the day, such as slavery, Chinese immigration, tariffs and prison reform.
“If there was an issue, he voraciously read about it to figure it out,” said Kevin Moore, Hayes Presidential curator of artifacts.
The exhibit also features Hayes’ own words about these works. An essay about reading from Hayes’ college years at Kenyon College, as well as correspondence he had with “The Fireside Poets,” a group of American poets who were popular in the mid 1800s - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Cullen Bryant, John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes and James Russell Lowell - are on display.
“Hayes corresponded with all of them,” Moore said. “He loved poetry.”
Additionally, the exhibit includes prints of portraits of authors that Hayes himself collected and quotes sharing what Hayes thought about the books he read.
The exhibit is sponsored by the Randolph J. & Estelle M. Dorn. Foundation. 
Hayes Presidential is America’s first presidential library and the forerunner of the federal presidential library system. It is partially funded by the state of Ohio and affiliated with the Ohio History Connection. Hayes Presidential is located at Spiegel Grove on Buckland Avenue.
For information, call 419-332-2081, or visit rbhayes.org. Like Hayes Presidential on Facebook and follow on Instagram and X at rbhayespres and on Bluesky at rbhayespres.bsky.social.