GERALD AND BETTY FORD SPECIAL MATERIALS, (1841, 1851) 1941-2007

This collection contains letters, photographs, and books that were set apart by Gerald Ford, Betty Ford or their staff and deemed to have special value. The bulk of the collection was donated by The Ford Family Trust (the estate of Betty Ford) following her death, but some materials were received during Mrs. Ford's lifetime.

The two most significant series in this collection are the files of special letters written to Gerald Ford and Betty Ford.  These letters were written by personal friends, politicians, celebrities, foreign leaders, and other prominent individuals.  They cover a wide range of topics and vary between short administrative responses regarding upcoming events, thank you notes, birthday messages, and holiday cards and substantive letters regarding personal, political, national, and international issues. Letters addressed to both President and Mrs. Ford are located in the Gerald R. Ford Special Letters series.

The criteria used for inclusion in the special letters files are not clear, and may have varied over the years. In some cases, letters contain a handwritten note (sometimes from President or Mrs. Ford) indicating that the letter should be added to the special letters file. The Ford staff housed the letters in binders or portfolios by year for easy viewing. Inclusion was not comprehensive as there are additional letters from some correspondents in other holdings of the Ford Library.

Gerald Ford's staff created an annual chronological index to his special letters file.  Letters addressed only to Betty Ford were not included on these lists, and between 1950 and 1974 the Ford staff also created separate indices for photographs given to the Fords.  It has been determined that the lists are not completely accurate in that some letters are not included on the lists and a few correspondents are misidentified.  Also, some letters included on the lists were not donated to the Ford Library.

The collection includes two additional series of correspondence.  The first consists of letters written to President Ford after he lost the 1976 presidential election.  Correspondents include members of Congress, other politicians and government officials, celebrities, former constituents from Michigan and personal friends.  The letters are stamped “The President Has Seen” and were originally housed in four volumes.  They express regret, support, encouragement, and appreciation for Ford's service to the country.  The other series consists of condolence letters written to Betty Ford following the death of her husband, Gerald Ford.  The correspondents include political leaders, celebrities and personal friends.

Two sets of scrapbook materials are included in the collection.  First, materials related to White House state dinners and other social events were placed in scrapbook albums most likely by White House staff.  The other is material collected in an album to memorialize President Richard Nixon's second inauguration on January 20, 1973 and the work of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, of which Gerald Ford was a member.

Finally, this collection contains two series of books from Gerald Ford's library in his offices and residences in Rancho Mirage, California and Vail Colorado.  The criteria for choosing these books are unknown.  Most have been signed/inscribed by the author, contributor, subject of the book, or by the person who gave the book to Ford.  Many of the books include Gerald Ford's personal bookplates or he annotated that it was his “personal copy.

Photographs included in this collection have been transferred to the Library's Audiovisual Department and are currently unprocessed.  Please contact the audiovisual staff for further information.

Related Materials (November 2010)
 

Artifacts originally donated with this material have been transferred to artifact collection of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, and a small amount of ephemera was transferred to the Gerald R. Ford Personal Papers collection.

Correspondence with Gerald and Betty Ford from throughout their careers can be found in numerous other collections within the Ford Library's holdings.  These include letters from individuals that appear in this collection.