Founded in 1999 and hosted by the University of California, Santa Barbara, The American Presidency Project (APP) is a comprehensive database of presidential documents going back to 1789. While the centerpiece of this collection is the fully indexed and searchable public papers of the presidents, additional content includes transcripts and documentation from presidential elections, supplemental presidential publications such as executive orders, charts and graphs presenting data related to the presidency, and an audio and video archive of presidential material. Current content is added on an ongoing basis and is typically made available following its addition to official channels. As the scope of the project expands, additional historical content is added to the archive.
While APP does not clearly disclose all of its primary sources for text and audiovisual content on the site, most of the current documents in the collection have been made available by the US Government Printing Office's Federal Digital System (FDsys), the National Archives and Presidential Libraries, and the Executive Office of the President. Historic presidential documents are transcribed from official government sources with some supplementary documents available as PDFs. A significant portion of the data on the presidency is compiled by APP using the content of its collection and other cited sources. Other data, including presidential approval figures, come from Gallup. Occasional research notes are added to provide context for document collections.
The homepage highlights the public papers collection and a recently updated project such as newly-compiled State of the Union Address data. Another section displays content from the historical archive based on the date, and the lower part of the page includes statistics on the document archive and a multi-field search with options to conduct a keyword search, locate a document by citation, or browse the collection.
Presidential documents are not subject to copyright protection within the United States, and all APP content is freely and publicly available. The search system is utilitarian but responsive, and charts and graphs load almost immediately. Graphical content is minimal, and includes a header for each president that shows the president's portrait or photograph along with the dates of presidency. All transcribed documents are presented in HTML format and include the suggested citation for the content. A single click allows users to increase the font size, and a quick print link presents the content without the navigation bars.
The audiovisual collection is similarly austere in presentation, with links to content opening as an embedded QuickTime audio file or a YouTube video file. The only advertisement is a link to the APP Facebook page, and each transcribed document includes a link to report potential typographical errors. Each page also includes a link to share the content on major social media platforms. The system has an occasional display problem in Google Chrome, but the functionality remains intact. Overall, the design is basic and perhaps outdated in appearance, but the content is adequately served by the platform.
The navigation is simple. A top navigation bar refers users to different sections of the site, with a side navigation bar offering more refined access to documentary components. One quirk is that the search box is located in the side navigation bar, and is easily overlooked from the introductory page to any particular collection. Although most documentary content is searchable, not all pages display the search box. Additionally, the navigation bars are not available in all contexts, which occasionally necessitates the use of the header or footer link to return to the homepage.
The search system for each document collection supports phrase and Boolean queries, with options to include documents from the Office of the Press Secretary and election campaign documents. The search can be narrowed by range of years. Only the search box on the homepage allows the search to be narrowed by president. Depending on the query, the browse function can be more effective. One of the most useful features of this collection is that it breaks down the public papers into constituent parts that include addresses, statements, and proclamations. A familiarity with presidential document types will aid the user in quickly locating appropriate content.
As a project and freely available digital collection, APP is virtually unique. While participants in the Federal Depository Library Program with large collections of tangible holdings will frequently have many of these sources in print or microformat, the search and browse functionality of APP makes this content more discoverable and more immediately usable, particularly for historical content that has not been made digitally available by another entity. The supplemental data and audiovisual content are convenient and self-explanatory, and the addition of presidential election resources provides further context for the activities of each president.
The convenience and comprehensive nature of The American Presidency Project make it an obvious choice for conducting initial research on any aspects of the American presidency. While the search functionality is limited in some respects, the scope of the content and its neutral and scholarly presentation make it a preferred research venue. Certainly there are users who will continue to benefit from the print, microformat, or official digital versions of these publications, but many of these users will benefit from using APP as a discovery tool to locate content. Overall, this resource is highly recommended, and it is hoped that it will remain freely available and updated for decades to come.
