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Presidential libraries

總統(tǒng)圖書館

Style and guile

風(fēng)格與騙局

The search for a home for Mr Obama's library andmuseum has begun

為奧巴馬圖書館和博物館找家的工作已經(jīng)展開

“AT THEIR best, they are lively classrooms of democracy,” says Richard Norton Smith, ahistorian who specialises in presidential libraries. They are also something of a misnomer.People who wander in expecting to borrow “The Cat in the Hat” tend to find instead amuseum, a replica of the Oval Office and many floors of documents.

“在它們的歷史最好時(shí)期，是民主制度的活教室，”Richard Norton Smith說，他是專門研究總統(tǒng)圖書館的歷史學(xué)家。這些“圖書館”也是用詞不當(dāng)?shù)漠a(chǎn)物。那些漫步而進(jìn)想借本《帽子里的貓》的人們會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)這其實(shí)是家博物館，仿造了總統(tǒng)辦公室，有很多文件。

Last week the Barack Obama Foundation invited applications from institutions interested ingiving room to the 14th presidential library. Marty Nesbitt, a member of the foundation boardand a friend of the Obamas, says a shortlist of sites will be presented to Mr and Mrs Obamaearly next year. The foundation wants to create an institution that reflects the commander-in-chief's values and priorities, as well as serving as a “force for good in the surroundingcommunity”.

上周，奧巴馬基金會(huì)邀請(qǐng)一些機(jī)構(gòu)，這些機(jī)構(gòu)對(duì)為14屆總統(tǒng)圖書館騰出空間很感興趣。作為基金會(huì)董事會(huì)的一員同時(shí)也是奧巴馬家族朋友的Marty Nesbitt說，這些網(wǎng)站的最終候選人名單將會(huì)在明年上半年呈給奧巴馬夫婦。基金會(huì)想要衍生一個(gè)選項(xiàng)能映射出三軍統(tǒng)帥的價(jià)值和地位，同時(shí)也能起到一個(gè)“在周邊國家中帶好頭的力量”。

ColumbiaUniversityinNew York, the president's alma mater, is preparing a bid. So too is his birthstate ofHawaii. ButChicago, with its strong Obama ties, is assumed to be the front-runner. MrObama worked as a community organiser in the South Side, represented the area as a statesenator, and was on the faculty of the University of Chicago for 12 years. A number ofinstitutions are vying to make a bid inChicago, well aware that presidential libraries can spur thelocal economy. Susan Sher, a former chief of staff to Michelle Obama who is co-ordinatingtheUniversityofChicago's bid, says a number of sites in the South Side, including Bronzeville, arebeing considered.

紐約的哥倫比亞大學(xué)是總統(tǒng)的母校，他們也在做這方面競(jìng)標(biāo)努力。他的出生地夏威夷州也同樣在努力。但是芝加哥，奧巴馬的鐵桿基地，被認(rèn)可為領(lǐng)跑者。奧巴馬還在South Side區(qū)時(shí)的工作時(shí)團(tuán)體組織者，是這一地區(qū)的州議員，并且曾在芝加哥大學(xué)當(dāng)了12年的職員。

The money needed to build the library—possibly about $500m—will be raised by thefoundation. This will include an endowment to cover some of the maintenance costs. Therest will come from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) which is chargedwith running all the presidential libraries at an annual cost of $70m.

這個(gè)圖書館的建立可能需要5億美金，將由基金會(huì)募集。這里面也包含有覆蓋維護(hù)費(fèi)用的捐款。剩余的將會(huì)由國家檔案記錄管理委員會(huì)(NARA)提供，這個(gè)組織負(fù)責(zé)運(yùn)營所有總統(tǒng)圖書館，每年花銷7000萬美元。

Last year a mere 10,600 scholars used the libraries. By contrast 730,000 people attendedpublic and educational programmes there, and 2.4m people visited the associated museums.Ronald Reagan's library in Simi, Californiawas the most visited in 2013, with some 425,000trooping in to see, among other things, his Air Force One. Online visits are more numerousand growing rapidly. Every library seems to be bigger than the last, but then records andartefacts are accumulating at an ever-faster clip. Herbert Hoover's library stores 500 gifts;Dwight Eisenhower's, 25,000; that of Bill Clinton (a man of appetites), more than 150,000.

去年，將近10,600位學(xué)者使用過圖書館。與之對(duì)比，有730,000人參加了那里的公共與教育活動(dòng)項(xiàng)目，有240萬人參觀了相關(guān)圖書館。位于加州西米市的羅納德·里根圖書館在2013年大熱，相比于其他物品，他的空軍一號(hào)最熱，有425,000人去參觀。

Since presidents usually live for decades after they leave office, the library becomes a tool fordefining—cynics would say, polishing—their legacy. But they also try to continue the work of apresident. The Obama Foundation hopes his library will be “the most connected, interactivepresidential library in history”. Until the next even-more-wired president, that is.

因?yàn)榭偨y(tǒng)們通常在退休后還會(huì)生活數(shù)十年，圖書館就成了定義的工具——這也就是評(píng)論家口中常說的，讓他們的遺產(chǎn)發(fā)光發(fā)亮。但是基金會(huì)也嘗試讓圖書館還繼續(xù)履行總統(tǒng)職責(zé)。奧巴馬基金會(huì)希望他的圖書館成為“歷史上最具活力，最有親和力的總統(tǒng)圖書館”。即使到了下一位更令人振奮的總統(tǒng)上任，它依舊不變。

In the long term, the libraries are most useful for the access they offer to presidentialdocuments, which tell the true story of the man and his times. But it seems that attention tothe flashier, exhibition side of things is detracting from NARA's real work: making documentsavailable for public release. Fully 40% of NARA's text holdings have not been processed. Andthey have plenty to reveal. Eisenhower, for example—says Mr Smith—was widely known in histime as a “genial duffer”. When the papers in his library were examined he was seen as farmore sophisticated, even ruthless: “Behind the smile was guile.”

從長遠(yuǎn)來看，這些圖書館最有用的地方在于它們?cè)S可參觀總統(tǒng)文件，這寫文件闡述了總統(tǒng)和他的時(shí)代最真實(shí)的故事。但是似乎看起來這些高漲的公眾熱情會(huì)被NARA的實(shí)際展出的物品所降低：可供公眾閱讀文件的程度。NARA40%的儲(chǔ)存文本從未被展出。并且它們中有很多爆點(diǎn)。Smith說，例如，艾森豪威爾，在那個(gè)時(shí)代是個(gè)廣為人知的“親和的小二貨”。當(dāng)時(shí)從他圖書館里查閱的文件看來，他其實(shí)比看起來城府深得多，甚至是殘忍：“笑里藏刀。”