(Michael Danser/The Daily Campus )

SMU students and people across the country have known for a while that artifacts from the George W. Bush presidency would reside in the future George W. Bush Presidential Center on our campus. 

However, beginning Saturday, a number of these items will be in the Meadows Museum and open to the public.

Alan Lowe, director of the George W. Bush Presidential Library, gave a short tour of the small exhibit Thursday to selected media.

“We want to give a sneak peak into our archival collections,” he said.

The exhibit, “Breaking New Ground: Presenting the George W. Bush Presidential Center,” has been designed to show visitors a taste of what the future Center plans to offer: action-oriented initiatives and opportunities to learn of significant moments of the nation’s history.

Display cases line the blue-painted walls of the exhibit’s small room. Situated under a spot light in the middle of the room is a carefully designed model of the future center. 

Among the miniature trees, projected tennis courts and soccer field is the building where all the plans of the Center are to take place.

The building has been designed to meet LEED platinum standards by including various sustainable strategies. 

Plans for the actual structure continue onto the wall displays. The former president and Mrs. Bush “welcome” visitors with an introduction to the Center’s exhibit.

They have been very involved in the design and the thought process in bringing together the Presidential Center, so we want to make sure that they welcomed all the visitors to this exhibit,” Lowe said.

Among the 43,000 artifacts from Bush’s presidency, the Center narrowed down to items that will fill the center. Some of what they found to be the most interesting are displayed in the “Breaking New Ground” exhibit.

“It was really interesting to go through and decide, ‘What do we use to best represent what we’re doing with the Bush Center?” he said.

One case portrays what Lowe calls “a very memorable moment.”

On Sept. 14, 2001, former President Bush made his first visit to Ground Zero. On display is the bullhorn he used to say, “I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”

In the same case are items reflecting Bush’s ceremonial opening pitch of Game three during the 2001 World Series at Yankee Stadium in New York City.

In trying to promote the country’s efforts in continuing life undeterred after the September attacks, he took the pitcher’s mound in a fleece sweatshirt and gave the sold-out ballpark a thumb’s up.

The baseball he threw and “FDNY” sweatshirt he wore that day are on display.

In the next case is one of Lowe’s favorite artifacts: three hand-written notes by the President when he was preparing his first public statement of the 9/11 attacks.

“So a moment of history is kind of frozen on that page,” he said.

The Oct. 7, 2001 announcement of U.S. troops going into Afghanistan is typed as “President’s Statement, Draft No. 8.” Below them are letters from children across the country and one from U2 singer Bono.

“It’s a nice selection of documents that are very historic,” he said.

Across the room is a more colorful display of dinner sets, jewelry and an evening gown. As Lowe explained, the Center is also designed to show more than pieces of history.

“We want to, in this exhibit, not only show great items—important items about history or important gifts from heads of state, but also some things that talk about life in the White House,” he said, pointing to the display of wooden easter eggs that were hunted on the lawn.

The jewelry, all sapphire and diamond, shines in even the dim museum lighting.

Arranged in a green leather case are the necklace, bracelet, earrings and ring jewelry that was given to Mrs. Bush by the custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, king of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

An Oscar de la Renta silk aqua gown and matching beaded Bolero jacket that was worn by Mrs. Bush on May 7, 2007 is also displayed, reflecting on former President George W. Bush’s first-ever, white-tie state dinner to honor Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.  

In the same case are two displays Lowe admires. One is the set of dog bowls for Barney and Miss Beazley that were used on Air Force One.

His other favorite is the set of autographed menus. The small pieces of paper layout the meals for the two selected evenings and have signatures of those who ate them.

One is from the May 22, 2003 dinner honoring His Excellency Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan; the other is from the dinner honoring His Excellency Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic, on Nov. 6, 2007.

“We want in this exhibit to make sure that we reach different audiences and educate about the important events and other issues of the Bush Administration,” Lowe said.

On various walls throughout the exhibit are small squares labeled, “Barney Fun Facts.” With a cartoon figure of the former president’s dog, this feature is to broaden the experience to other audiences, according to Lowe.

“We also want to make sure that we reach out to young kids as well: we all love Barney and Miss Beazley, their two dogs,” he said. “So throughout the exhibit we have these wonderful Barney fun facts.”

After asking what Barney’s favorite toy is, Lowe opened the small red box to reveal nine golf balls.

“He likes soccer balls too, but golf balls are absolutely his favorite,” he said.

The goals for the Center are also displayed for visitors to learn.

“At the core, we’re about preserving and making accessible these materials and then using them to educate,” Lowe said. “And we certainly hope this exhibit’s part of that process.”

The George W. Bush Presidential Center is set for groundbreaking on Nov. 16. Initiatives are already in motion, and Lowe believes the Center will be useful to SMU students—both current at its opening and alumni—and the Dallas community.

He noted that there are even discussions in implementing student workers and interns in the Center.

As the date of groundbreaking approaches, there have been recent reports of planned protests, which don’t worry Lowe.

“Our focus that day is on the groundbreaking and showing to the community what we are and what we plan on doing and, again, how we plan on being useful to the community” he said.

“It’s the peoples’ constitutional right to protest and speak their mind. We think we have a very positive story to tell here,” he said.

The “Breaking New Ground” exhibit will be open to the public from Oct. 23 through Feb. 6, 2011.

SMU students and people across the country have known for a while that artifacts from the George W. Bush presidency would reside in the future George W. Bush Presidential Center on our campus.

However, beginning Saturday, a number of these items will be in the Meadows Museum and open to the public.

Alan Lowe, director of the George W. Bush Presidential Library, gave a short tour of the small exhibit Thursday to selected media.

“We want to give a sneak peak into our archival collections,” he said.

The exhibit, “Breaking New Ground: Presenting the George W. Bush

Presidential Center,” has been designed to show visitors a taste of what the future Center plans to offer: action-oriented initiatives and opportunities to learn of significant moments of the nation’s history.

Display cases line the blue-painted walls of the exhibit’s small room. Situated under a spot light in the middle of the room is a carefully designed model of the future center.

Among the miniature trees, projected tennis courts and soccer field is the building where all the plans of the Center are to take place.

The building has been designed to meet LEED platinum standards by including various sustainable strategies.

Plans for the actual structure continue onto the wall displays. The former president and Mrs. Bush “welcome” visitors with an introduction to the Center’s exhibit.