Taking the reins

STAUNTON — The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum has tapped a former Archivist of the United States and a presidential library expert to head the facility.

Don Wilson will become Wilson Library president July 1, replacing Eric Vettel, who has resigned to pursue other interests.

Wilson, who holds a doctorate in American history from the University of Cincinnati, has played a pivotal role in developing some of the country’s presidential libraries.

He served as the first director of the Gerald Ford Presidential Library in Michigan, and was executive director of the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation from 1993 to 1999.

Wilson, who established a consulting firm in Staunton in 1999, said his latest assignment “is a challenge.”

One of his most important goals is to make attending the Wilson Library and Musem a family experience.

“We want to make the library a whole family experience,” said Wilson, who wants to stimulate interest in America’s 28th president in students as young as those attending middle school. Those efforts are evident with the opening of a children’s corner.

Another way of attracting visitors is to humanize Woodrow Wilson. There will be efforts to show his love of family and sports, Don Wilson said.

He said it is still a goal to construct an 18,000-square-foot building on the current site to house both the library and museum, but said it would take longer to fund the $20 million project than originally anticipated. Some funding sources, such as those coming from state government, have dried up.

Vettel, who served as the library and museum’s executive director for more than four years, said he is leaving confident of Wilson’s leadership.

“With Don Wilson in place, it is a healthy time to throttle back,” he said.

Since Vettel took over, the Wilson Library and Museum has acquired numerous private collections regarding the late president, and now has several hundred thousand documents in place.

Vettel said one of the challenges is explaining the history the library and museum has acquired.

“How can we convey it [the history] to the world — not just academics, but to people,” he said.

Vettel said the public’s basic understanding of Woodrow Wilson misses his richness and depth.

Some of the collected items show Wilson’s closeness to his daughters and “evokes sympathy,” Vettel said.

Don Wilson said President Wilson’s diplomacy and other aspects of his presidency can be used to compare with other presidencies.

In addition to reaching out to young people, Wilson’s is the only presidential library and museum in Virginia, the birthplace of eight American presidents.

Wilson said the difficult economy can work to the library’s advantage.

“People will take shorter trips coming from Richmond, Washington and even Philadelphia,” he said.

Exhibits show Wilson’s time as president of Princeton University and reign as U.S. president as well as the manse in which he was born. The Pierce Arrow he drove is also on display.

But Don Wilson said it is education the library and museum truly want to offer.

Wilson called presidential libraries “classrooms in democracy,” and said they can serve as a catalyst to make visitors more interested in their country.

Benjamin Hufbauer, a professor of art history at the University of Louisville, has written about presidential libraries in his book, “Presidential Temples: How Memorials and Libraries Shape Public Memory.”

Hufbauer, responding by e-mail, said newer presidential libraries tend to be more like campaign commercials in museum form.

“They are often closer to propaganda than to real history museums,” he said. “Generally the mistakes presidents make are barely mentioned.”

But Hufbauer said older libraries have done a better job of educating.

He points to the Truman Library in Independence, Mo., where, he said, students gather at a mock West Wing and, using documents from the library archive, attempt to solve problems President Truman faced.

The students role-play being Truman, his wife, Bess, or members of the Truman cabinet.

Hufbauer praised the selection of Wilson to lead the Woodrow Wilson Library.

“I imagine he’ll bring new prominence and new funding to this library honoring a very important president,” he said.