The Board of Directors and National Advisory Council have authorized a national capital campaign with a goal of $30 million for a new visitor and education center. This national initiative seeks,through innovative educational programming and creative displays, to provide information
about Harry S. Truman in Key West and his role in American history as the father of modern statesmanship. This center would provide the critically needed space to illustrate the transition to the modern presidency, the United State's response to the Cold War and our ultimate emergence as a world power.

Currently, the Harry S. Truman Little White House State Historic Site
consists of an 8700 square foot 1890 building that served as the Winter
White House of Harry S. Truman and an acre of botanical gardens
surrounded by the original 1890 wrought iron fence. Approximately 7000
square feet of the house have been devoted to the re-creation of
Truman's Winter White House using original furnishings, 1000 square feet
(the Vice Presidents quarters) have been modernized and used by VIP
guests and 700 square feet devoted to exhibit space. Surrounding the site are almost 100 acres that comprise the up-scale Truman Annex gated
community. A 27,000 square foot building adjutant to the north side of the Little White House and known as Building 21 is the only logical area for expansion. The exhibits, introductory video presentation and museum
store would be moved to Building 21 allowing more of the house to reflect its 1949 Truman Era appearance.

Building 21 was constructed in 1906 as the power plant for a naval
communication network that was headquartered in Key West and had radio stations in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Panama and Pensacola, Florida. During the post World War II years, it served as a cryptanalysis center for the Navy. Today, it serves as commercial office space and headquarters of Historic Tours of America, Inc.

Under our proposed expansion, the first floor would have 3000 square
feet of exhibition space to accurately interpret Harry Truman's use of the Little White House, the U.S. Navy's Key West role in the response to the Cold War and the emergence of the modern Presidency. The museum store would expand to approximately 1000 square feet to provide more historic reproductions, educational materials and a revenue stream for the museum. A multi- purpose auditorium would allow for visitor orientation and at other times as a classroom and an after hours rental location. The brick structure could also provide hurricane protection for our collections.

The second floor would provide much needed space for research facilities, collection storage, residential space for interns, museum office space and the White House Decision Center. The White House Decision Center, licensed by the Truman Presidential Library, www.TrumanLibrary.org/whdc, teaches critical thinking to high school and college age students. The methodology incorporates role playing and uses primary source materials to examine the rationale behind some of the following critical decisions of the Truman presidency: integration, the Berlin Air Lift and the Korean War. These skills can than be used by the student in a number of other disciplines.