Presidential Archivist: A Memoir

Like many other aspiring young historians in the 1970s, David Alsobrook fell victim to the
PhD glut
and the shrinking number of vacancies in traditional academic jobs. His completion of the Auburn University Archival Training Program in 1975 provided him with an alternative career pathway as a historian beyond teaching and research. A sizable portion of this memoir focuses on Alsobrook’s archival career at the Alabama Department of Archives and History and three Presidential libraries. Based almost exclusively on his contemporaneous personal journals, correspondence, and notes, Presidential Archivist includes details about academic and practical training, typical duties, and the revolutionary impact of computerization upon the archival profession over the past four decades. During his National Archives career, Alsobrook had the unique opportunity to know several recent American Presidents and First Ladies–Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, George H. W. and Barbara Bush, George W. and Laura Bush, and Bill and Hillary Clinton. Not surprisingly, as an archivist he compiled copious records of his interactions with these Presidents and First Ladies. These records form the basis for his personal observations about each of these remarkable
national treasures
and their contributions to our nation. Alsobrook reveals that public perceptions of Presidents and First Ladies often are quite different from the actual occupants of the White House, most notably, when they are removed from the merciless lens of television cameras.