Special exhibit examines president's love of reading

FREMONT — Throughout his life, President Rutherford B. Hayes was a ravenous reader. He amassed more than 8,000 books in his personal library. As a young man, he was a founding member of the Cincinnati Literary Club. From the tales of Charles Dickens and Mark Twain to the poetry of Lord Byron to the writings of Thomas Jefferson, he pored over the pages of many genres. The next special exhibit at the Hayes Presidential Library & Museums site in Fremont will explore the authors and titles that shaped and inspired him. "Inside President Hayes' Library" will be open from Friday, March 28 through Tuesday, June 30, 2026. Access to the exhibit is included with regular admission, and Hayes Presidential members are admitted for free. People can learn more by visiting rbhayes.org/main/ visit-us. What to expect Throughout the exhibit, visitors will see volumes Hayes himself held as he read through their pages. Displayed books include Hayes copies of Shakespeare, Charles Dickens novels and "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes, for which Hayes taught himself Spanish so he could read it. "I today formed the purpose to study the Spanish language enough to read Don Quixote," Hayes wrote in his diary on Oct. 10, 1873. "Yesterday I bought of Mr. Curtis 160 volumes for Birchard Library. He threw in a few Spanish books of small value. It occurs to me I can easily learn to translate." Other books cover issues of the day, such as slavery, Chinese immigration, tariffs and prison reform. "If there was an issue, he voraciously read about it to figure it out," said Kevin Moore, Hayes Presidential's curator of artifacts. The exhibit will also feature Hayes' own words about these works. An essay about reading from Hayes' college years at Kenyon College as well as correspondence he had with "The Fireside Poets" — a group of American poets who were popular in the mid-1800s Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Cullen Bryant, John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes and James Russell Lowell — will be on display. "Hayes corresponded with all of them," Moore said. "He loved poetry." Additionally, the exhibit will include prints of portraits of authors that Hayes himself collected. Hayes Presidential is America's first presidential library and the forerunner of the federal presidential library system. It is partially funded by the state of Ohio and affiliated with the Ohio History Connection. Hayes Presidential is located at Spiegel Grove on Buckland Avenue. People can learn more by visiting rbhayes.org.