NORTHAMPTON — In his long and storied political career, former U.S. President Calvin Coolidge became known for his reserved manner and humble style of living. But the keepers of Coolidge’s presidential museum and library have decided that the space honoring his life and legacy is perhaps just a tad too humble.
Unlike other presidential libraries, often erected as grand monuments to their namesakes, the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum consists of just a single room, tucked away on the top floor of Northampton’s Forbes Library. It contains newspaper clippings and campaign brochures, as well as the official presidential portraits of Coolidge and his wife, Grace. The room itself has remained mostly unchanged since the 1950s, when it was first established.
But that looks set to change soon, as the library has moved to give the Coolidge library a much-needed makeover. The library aims to revamp the exhibits by splitting them into sections based on different periods in Coolidge’s life, from his early upbringing in Vermont to his time in the presidency. An orientation video will present images, audio recordings and film footage that depicts the life of Coolidge and his family.
The museum will also prominently feature some of the more interesting items in the collection, such as an “electric exercise horse” invented by John Harvey Kellogg and gifted to Coolidge, as well as a war bonnet gifted to Coolidge (who signed the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924) by the Lakota Sioux nation. The library is currently seeking tribal approval before it can display the war bonnet.
“What we’re trying to do is update the exhibits that will bring the museum to a modern-day experience,” Forbes Library Director Lisa Downing said. “We’re thinking about every square inch of the space and how to maximize the story we’re trying to tell.”
A schematic design submitted by the group Design Division Inc. of Amherst, fittingly submitted on July 4 (the birthday of both the nation and of Coolidge himself) of this year, describes the unifying theme of the new museum: “Calvin Coolidge was a product of and inspired by his small-town New England upbringing who ended up playing a major role in the centuries-old American argument about the role of government in our lives.”
Though Coolidge’s successors in the Oval Office have received federal funding for maintaining and updating their presidential libraries, the room at Forbes library receives no such support. That’s because Coolidge’s term in office just missed the cutoff date for the Presidential Libraries Act, which starts with Coolidge’s immediate successor, Herbert Hoover.
“He bequeathed all his personal, political and presidential papers to the Forbes Library,” said Jay Fleitman, who chairs the development committee for the Coolidge museum. “There are probably only 47 places in the United States that can claim a president, and it’s a tremendous asset to the city.”
Coolidge was born in the village of Plymouth Notch, Vermont, and the home where he was raised now constitutes the centerpiece of the Coolidge Homestead District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. But Northampton, the city where Coolidge lived for most his adult life before and after his presidency, contains scant reference to the nation’s 30th president save for the room in Forbes Library.
A graduate of Amherst College, Coolidge worked as a lawyer in Northampton before being elected to a seat on the City Council in 1898. That began his climb up the political ladder, in which he became a state representative before returning to Northampton to serve as mayor. He was elected to the Massachusetts Senate starting in 1912, eventually becoming president of the Senate. He then served as lieutenant governor under Samuel McCall, before he himself was elected governor in 1918.
Coolidge’s time as governor, particularly his response to the Boston Police Strike, attracted nationwide attention, leading to his selection as vice president in the campaign of Warren G. Harding. The 1920 presidential campaign saw Harding elected handily, but he died of a heart attack two years into his term, giving Coolidge the highest office in the land. He then was re-elected on his own merits in 1924, serving until 1929.
“When he retired, he came back to Northampton,” Fleitman said. “He didn’t go back to Vermont. He lived here on Massasoit Avenue. This was his home.”
Without the federal funding of other presidential libraries, the library is looking for other means of fundraising for the project. Downing said the library has already raised about $25,000 for the project, out of an estimated $400,000 needed to complete the renovation.
“We are actively fundraising for this project and seeking grants and other sponsorship opportunities, with the hope we might be able to start construction next fall,” Downing said. “That’s possibly optimistic, but if all the stars align, that’s what our hope is.”