Harry S. Truman Library

A lot of interesting history can be found here. Really loved looking at Harry Truman’s automobiles and seeing his own personal office that he used from the time the library opened until his death. Everything is so perfectly preserved. Also loved seeing the films and the circa 1953 oval office.

This is a must stop for history buffs when in the Kansas City area. The Truman Library was the first specifically constructed for this purpose, after FDR set a precedent through donation of his papers and Hyde Park estate. There are two permanent exhibits, one focused on his life and times and the other on his years as President. The latter is a reminder of the sheer number of challenges he faced as President, from the decision to drop two atomic weapons on Japan, the descent of the Iron Curtain and the Korean Conflict, giving one a new sense of respect for the man, regardless of your individual political views. On the other side of the Library is the Museum, including the office he loved to retreat to in his post Presidential years. The President and First Lady are entombed on the site, in the center court area. You can take this at your own pace but expect a minimum of two hours to get a sense of the place and what it has to offer. I easily spent a half day here.

Don’t miss this library! It was a fantastic journey through President Truman’s life. Filled with memorabilia and artifacts. Short films and recorded I formation throughout. And a stirringly beautiful burial site. Stop by the Truman house while you are there too!

Outstanding display of history. Gives an accurate account of his presidency, including his «unpopular decisions». Tons of artifacts presented in a interesting fashion. Not a lot for children. But if you came to see American History during the Truman administration and his life… THIS IS YOUR PLACE!!!

I enjoyed the first video and the interactive exercises they had on display. I wish all of the videos were captioned but they weren’t. I enjoyed roaming around the museum.

Lovely tribute to Harry Truman. The 45 movie was thorough, but not boring. The exhibits were well presented and informative.

I have only been to a handful of presidential libraries (Reagan. LBJ, Eisenhower) and this one is my favorite thus far. Considering how much I despise contemporary politicians and politics, visiting places like this is refreshing in a way. It serves as a reminder the American political landscape was not always stuffed to capacity with fanatics and the irrationally ideological like it is today.
I visited this library for the first time on a field trip in elementary school in 3^rd or 4^th grade. Considering how close it is to my parents place, it’s really a shame that I had about a 20 year hiatus since coming back. I am 100% confident my perspectives on life have changed a tad since kickball at recess and Becky behind the bleachers. It’s amazing how I tend to navigate attractions like Magellan when I am traveling, but the gems near my hometown escape my due diligence. And this is most certainly a gem!
Admission is 8 bucks, and it is also possible to save some money and get bundled tickets to a few other local attractions at the tourism office located about a mile away from the site (the former Truman residence is nearby also).
When you come in the front doors it is impossible not to notice the HUGE mural painted by Thomas Hart Benton hinting at the city’s initial beginnings as a gateway to the American frontier on the Santa Fe Trail. Also directly in front of you as you come in the front door is a recreation of the Oval Office during the Truman presidency complete with a recorded introduction by the president himself. These displays set the stage nicely for a very large, well organized and well maintained museum.
Since I am really not in the mood to type a novel here let’s just say that there is a very great deal of history on tap that is well executed. The Truman presidency saw a fairly large number of events with global historical significance, such as the death of a sitting president during wartime, the only military use of nuclear weapons, the Marshall Plan and the reconstruction of Europe, and the beginnings of what would later be dubiously named The Cold War. Many of the exhibits involve media presentations and interactive displays, which is helpful in such a large museum. Even nerds like myself get bored of reading endless walls of text for more than an hour or so.
There is an outdoor courtyard located at the center of the grounds which contains the grave of President Truman along with his wife Bess. There is also a viewing area where you can see the office of the former president that he used fairly continuously up until his death and has been kept essentially as he left it in 1972.
Lastly, there is also a presidential archive on site available for those who wish to do research and review the various documents and correspondence accumulated during the Truman administration. It has been since HS since I have used the facility for that purpose, but I ran into a historian during my visit who has visited over a dozen presidential libraries and he informed me that everything is exhaustively categorized and indexed for ease of digital document retrieval.
If you are paying a visit to the Kansas City area, you really owe it to yourself to check this place out.

I haven’t been back here for nearly fifteen years but I’m impressed by the modernization and the wonderful displays with interactive presentations in many areas. Truman was at the crossroads of history in these centuries with a world war, civil rights, the rise of Stalin’s Soviet empire, Israel’s founding and the Cold War part of his watch. Not to be missed if you are in Kansas City!

Around 30 minutes from downtown Kansas City is the cute town of Independence, which was where Harry Truman lived before and after his Presidency. You will need about 3 hours to explore this treasure trove of information about Harry Truman, which includes lots of documents from his Presidency that were Top Secret at the time but have now been made public. It was fascinating to read about how Truman communicated with his peers, wife and how he he felt about his key decisions. This was the first President’s Library and Museum that I have been to and I am now interested in seeing more.

There are so many good reviews here, that I would just be repeating what others have said, so I’ll keep it short. Whether you liked what he did as a President or not, I think most people will like the museum. There is a lot of information to take in, so give yourself plenty of time to go through the museum.

There is a lot of suppressed information about Truman and they don’t give you the full story. It also seems kinda desperate of the state of Missouri to have all this stuff dedicated to him.

This is an amazing historical record. Truman’s Presidency spanned several monumental moments in time and this museum helps to understand them. The replica of the oval office alone is worth the trip.

Well thought out and organized, easily flows through the years. Replica of the Oval Office and his preserved office on sight.
Easy drive from Kansas City.

The sleek low slung no nonsense buildings befit this farmer-​local just– WWI veteran who became the man of the world and made the tough decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan to end the terrible fighting the Pacific theater and finalized the end of WWII.
The museum feature mock oval office with a recording of President Truman’s voice, very moving really. You also get a palpable feeling of his Mid American roots. He loved to walk his neighborhood every day, completely accessible to all, which reminds m of Lincoln.
The exhibits also show his old vehicles and the type of artillery he used in WW1. Also, they dint’ sugar coat his ties to organized crime as part of the prewar political machine that was so common in America in that era. (think Kennedy).
Overall a wonderfully kept, brilliant and solemn place that celebrate the whole of this great man.

Went out of my way to find this presidential library, and enjoyed it. Lots of history here, not just of Harry’s presidency, but also with the collaboration with Thomas Hart Benton, another Missouri original on the mural in the entrance way, and a wonderful exhibit of Benton’s works.
Compared to the Reagan and Nixon libraries, this one is small, but the family home is nearby, and it may contain some of the artifacts not at the library. I wasn’t able to visit there this time.
Interesting exhibit about post war USA that reminded me a lot of what is going on now in the US.

Ok, full disclosure: I am a major history nerd. However, my personal experience with presidential libraries/​museums have been minimal since forced elementary school field trips to the good ol’ Gerry Ford presidential library. However, my friend is an even bigger nerd than I am and he LOVES presidential libraries, so when I found out we were only 20 miles away from the Truman library, it was a no-​brainer.
I am not going discuss Truman as a president and how I feel about him personally; that’s not so much the point of this site anyways (but for the record, he was pretty swell). The actual museum itself was very nice. The exhibits were obviously very high-​caliber work and the museum itself was very beautiful and well-​kept. I felt the museum did an excellent job of incorporating many different medias to draw visitors in and keep them interested. You could definitely take older children here and they would not be bored. This is definitely worth the 25 minute drive from Kansas City.

Interesting attraction featuring the presidential years of Harry Truman. I thought the walk through historical section was nice, it felt as interactive as a whole bunch of panels of text can be. The best room had all sorts of cutouts of ads from the era. I would have liked more videos to watch, more actual video footage from the time. The little bit there was great.
I’m knocking off a star because its pricey for what it is.

A beautiful museum with a lot of interesting artifacts & exhibits. My favorite, right inside the main entry area, was the Actual Sign from Truman’s desk: «The Buck Stops Here.» Truman was quite controversial in his day, which is not glossed over by the various explanatory texts that accompany the exhibits — I felt that the whole tone of the place was historical exposition, not hagiography. (Contrast that to the Reagan museum, y’all.)
There’s not a ton of stuff for younger kids (for whom Truman would be a figure from the dim & distant past, roughly contemporary with Washington & Lincoln;) but there was a charming reenactor playing Harry on the day that we were there. He was quite good & spoke knowledgeably in the first person about a whole range of topics. The kids seemed fascinated by him.
The courtyard & burial site is lovely and peaceful.

Had to complete my KC museum reviews with our final stop. The museum is in a beautiful setting and the newer introductory video is excellent.
The museum itself is not as user friendly as the other museums we visited on our weekend to KC. I enjoyed it but I would not rank it as a must see but a good place to visit if you have the time.

The Buck Stops Here! And so did I several years ago at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum.
Mister Missouri was President before I was born, but who doesn’t recognize the «Dewey Defeats Truman» headline? That inaccurate banner was on the front page of the Chicago Tribune (on November 3, 1948), the day after «Give ‘em Hell Harry» beat Republican challenger and Governor of New York Thomas E. Dewey in the 1948 presidential election in an upset victory.
The Harry S Truman Library and Museum is dedicated to preserving papers, books, and other historical materials relating to the 33^rd President of the United States. It is located on a small hill facing U.S. Highway 24 in Independence, Truman’s hometown. It’s just outside of Kansas City, and worth a special trip.
From the time the Library opened, President Truman maintained a working office there, often working five or six days a week. In the office, he wrote articles, letters, and his book Mr. Citizen. He met with Presidents Hoover, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, and with other notable Americans including Robert Kennedy. Long a favorite of museum visitors, the office was viewed through a window from the library’s courtyard. Today the office appears today just as it did when Harry Truman died on December 26, 1972. The Truman Library was also the site of the signing of the Medicare Act by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965.
The Museum itself is a beauty and a wonderful interactive representation of post-​WWII history, including the Korean conflict (of which my Dad and Uncle Served) and the firing of General Douglas MacArthur. Parking is easy, admission is cheap, and the portrayed archives are rich and satisfying.