Bizarre Collection Headed to Bush Library

From cowboy hats to swords to classified files
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 28, 2009 2:29 PM CST
Bizarre Collection Headed to Bush Library
Dr. Jennifer M. Schulle is shown with a sampling of gifts to former President George W. Bush, Tuesday, July 7, 2009 in Lewisville, Texas.   (AP Photo/Donna McWilliam)

George W. Bush’s $300 million presidential library will be filled with documents, including many classified files. In all, it’ll boast roughly 68 million pages of documents, 175 million e-mails, 3,845,912 photos, and more videos than any previous president's library. But it’ll also have a wide array of “museum objects”—known outside the realm of politics as “random crap.” Among the souvenirs the Washington Post mentions:

  • A pair of custom cowboy boots emblazoned with a giant “GWB” monogram
  • Diamond-and-sapphire jewelry given to Laura Bush by the king of Saudi Arabia
  • A mosaic of St. Peter’s Square given to Bush by Pope Benedict
  • A bat signed by all the living members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, circa 2001
  • The 9mm Glock Saddam Hussein had on him when US forces captured him
  • Gold and silver swords
  • A surfboard
  • Countless cowboy hats and saddles
(More George W. Bush Presidential Center stories.)

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