Joint resolution to provide for the acceptance and maintenance of Presidential libraries, and for other purposes
PL 84-373 (H.J.Res.330), enacted 08/12/1955

69 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 373-AUG. 12, 1955 
695 
Public Law 373 
CHAPTER 859 
JOINT RESOLUTION 
August 12, 1955 
To provide for the acceptance and maintenance of Presidential libraries, and for 
[H. j . Res. 3303 
other purposes. 
Resolved hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United 
States of America in Congress a^semhled^ That section 507 of the 
Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as 
amended (44 IJ. S. C, sec. 397), is hereby amended as follows : 
(1) By amending subsection (e) to read as follows : 
"(e) The Administrator is authorized, whenever he deems it to be 
in \ii<i public interest, to accept for deposit— 
" (1) the papers and other historical materials of any President 
or former President of the United States, or of any other official 
or former official of the Government, and other papers relating to 
and contemporary with any President or former President of the 
United States, subject to restrictions agreeable to the Adminis-
trator as to their use; and 
"(2) documents, including motion-picture films, still pictures, 
and sound recordings, from private sources that are appropriate 
for preservation by the Government as evidence of its organiza-
tion, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, and transactions." 
(2) By redesignating subsection (f) as subsection (h), and by 
inserting after subsection (e) the following new subsection : 
"(f) The Administrator is authorized, whenever he deems it to be 
in the public interest— 
"(1) to accept, for and in the name of the United States, any 
land, buildings, and equipment offered as a gift to the United 
States for the purposes of creating a Presidential archival depos-
itory, and to take title to such land, buildings, and equipment on 
behalf of the United States, and to maintain, operate, and protect 
them as a Presidential archival depository, and as part of the 
national archives system; and to enter into agreements, upon such 
terms and conditions as he deems proper, with any State, political 
subdivision, university, institution of higher learning, institute, 
or foundation to utilize as a Presidential archival depository land, 
buildings, and equipment of such State, subdivision, university, 
or other organization, to be made available by it Avithout transfer 
of title to the United States, and to maintain, operate, and pro-
tect such depository as a part of the national archives system: 
Provided^ That the Administrator shall submit a report in writ-
ing on any such proposed Presidential archival depository to 
the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives, which report shall include a description of the 
land, buildings, and equipment offered as a gift or to be made 
available without transfer of title as aforesaid, a statement of the 
terms of the proposed agreement, if any, a general description 
of the types of papers, documents, or other historical materials 
which it is proposed to deposit in the Presidential archival depos-
itory so to be created, and of the terms of such proposed deposit, a 
statement of the additional improvements and equipment, if any, 
necessary to the satisfactory operation of such depository, 
together with an estimate of the cost thereof, and an estimate 
of the annual cost to the United States of maintaining, operating, 
and protecting such depository: Provided 
further^ That the 
Administrator shall not take title to any such land, buildings, and 
equipment or enter into any such agreement, until the expiration 
of the first period of sixty calendar days of continuous session of 
the Congress following the date on which such report is trans-
Presldential 
li-
braries. 
Acceptance and 
maintenance. 
64 Stat. 587. 
G i f t s of lands, 
b u i l d i n g s , 
and 
equipment. 
R e p o r t to Con^ 
gress. 
696 
PUBLIC LAW 373-AUG. 12, 1955 
[69 S T A T . 
Deposit of 
ma-
terial s< 
E x e r c i s e 
of 
functions. 
Right of posses-
sion. 
Restrictions 
on 
a V a i 1 a b ility and 
use. 
Disposal. 
S t u d y a n d re-
search. 
Fees. 
Office Space for 
former Presidents. 
Money gifts, etc. 
SS Stat. 581. 
44 u s e 300ee. 
mitted, which sixty-day period shall be computed as follows: 
Continuity of session shall be considered as broken only by an 
adjournment sine die, but the days on which either House is not 
in session because of an adjournment of more than three days to 
a day certain shall be excluded from the computation; 
"(2) to deposit in any such Presidential archival depository 
any papers, documents, or other historical materials accepted 
under subsection (e), or any Federal records appropriate for 
preservation therein; 
"(3) to exercise, with respect to any papers, documents, or 
other historical materials deposited under this subsection or 
otherwise in any Presidential archival depository, all the func-
tions and responsibilities otherwise vested in him pertaining to 
Federal records or other documentary materials in his custody 
or under his control: Provided^ That the Administrator, in nego-
tiating for the deposit of Presidential historical materials, shall 
take steps to secure to the Government, so far as possible, the 
right to have continuous and permanent possession of such mate-
rials : Provided further^ That papers, documents, or other histori-
cal materials accepted and deposited under subsection (e) and 
this subsection shall be held subject to such restrictions respecting 
their availability and use as may be specified in writing by the 
donors or depositors, including the restriction that they shall be 
kept in a Presidential archival depository, and such restrictions 
shall be respected for so long a period as shall have been specified, 
or until they are revoked or terminated by the donors or deposi-
tors or by persons legally qualified to act on their behalf with 
respect thereto: Provided further^ That subject to such restric-
tions, the Administrator may dispose by sale, exchange, or other-
wise, of any papers, documents, or other materials which the 
Archivist may determine to have no permanent value or historical 
interest or to be surplus to the needs of any Presidential archival 
depository; 
"(4) to cooperate with and to assist any university, institution 
of higher learning, institute, foundation, or other organization or 
qualified individual to further or to conduct study or research 
in any historical materials deposited in any Presidential archival 
depository; 
"(5) to charge and collect reasonable fees for the privilege of 
visiting and viewing any exhibit rooms or museum space in any 
such Presidential archival depository; 
"(6) to provide reasonable office space in any Presidential 
archival depository for the personal use of any former President 
of the United States; and 
"(7) to accept gifts or bequests of money or other property 
for the purpose of maintaining, operating, protecting, or 
improving any Presidential archival depository: Provided^ That 
the proceeds of any such gifts or bequests, together with the 
proceeds from any fees or from any sales of historical materials, 
copies or reproductions thereof, catalogs, or other items, having 
to do with any Presidential archival depository, shall be paid 
into the National Archives Trust Fund provided for in section 5 
of the Act of July 9,1941, to be held, administered, and expended 
under the provisions of such section for the benefit and in the 
interest of the Presidential archival depository in connection 
with which they were received, including such administrative and 
custodial expenses thereof as the Administrator may determine. 
69 
S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 374-AUG. 12, 1955 
697 
(3) By adding at the end thereof the following new subsection: 
"(h) When used in this section— 
"(1) The term 'Presidential archival depository' means an insti-
tution operated by the United States to house and preserve the papers 
and booKS of a President or former President of the United States, 
together with other historical materials belonging to a President or 
former President of the United States, or related to his papers or to 
the events of his official or personal life. 
"(2) The term 'historical materials' includes books, correspondence, 
documents, papers, pamphlets, works of art, models, pictures, photo-
graphs, plats, maps, films, motion pictures, sound recordings, and other 
objects or materials having historical or commemorative value." 
Approved August 12, 1955. 
Definitions* 
Public Law 374 
CHAPTER 860 
JOINT RESOLUTION 
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to execute a certain contract with the 
Toston Irrigation District, Montana. 
August 12, 1955 
[S. J. Res. 82] 
62 Stat. 1129; 63 
Stat. 783. 
Whereas there have been constructed certain irrigation distribution 
and pumping works for the Crow^ Creek pumping unit, Montana, 
as a part of the Missouri River Basin project (58 Stat. 887,891); and 
Whereas said works were constructed, pursuant to special provisions 
contained in the Interior Department Appropriation Acts, 1949 and 
1950, to furnish new lands with irrigation water in substitution for 
irrigated lands in Broadwater County, Montana, inundated by the 
operation of the Canyon Ferry Reservoir at a maximum normal 
pool elevation above three thousand seven hundred and sixty-six 
feet; and 
Whereas the Toston Irrigation District has been organized under the 
laws of the State of Montana for the purpose of entering into 
contractual arrangements with the United States; and 
Whereas the said district will probably be unable for some time to 
pay to the United States more than the cost of operating and main-
taining said works, exclusive of charges for electrical pumping 
energy; and 
Whereas the Congress expects said district to make every reasonable 
effort to expand its boundaries and otherwise to put itself in such 
financial shape that, upon the expiration of not more than ten years, 
it can assume its proper obligations under the Federal reclamation 
laws (Act of June 17, 1902, 82 Stat. 388, and Acts amendatory 
thereof or supplementary thereto) : Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled^ That the Secretary of the DiIti-ictrMontt"**" 
Interior is authorized to execute a contract with Toston Irrigation 
District which provides, among other things, that— 
(a) the district will pay to the United States each year the utSted^^atel."^"^ 
full cost to the Government of operating and maintaining the 
works of the Crow Creek pumping unit during that year, exclusive 
of the cost of electrical pumping energy, said payment to be made, 
as far as the cost can be forecast by the Secretary or his duly 
authorized delegate, in advance and in not more than two 
installments; 
(b) the United States will deliver to the district, as far as 
conditions permit, water in sufficient quantity to furnish two acre-
feet per irrigated acre, measured at the farm turnouts, for use on 
the irrigable lands of the district; 
43 u s e 371 note.