An HBCU alum is leading the first digital presidential library. Two-time Howard University grad Dr. Kenvi Phillips is the inaugural Director of the Barack Obama Presidential Library and will be in charge of all Library activities, administration, planning and programs.
According to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), “[t]he Presidential Libraries maintain over 600 million pages of textual materials; nearly 20 million photographs; over 20 million feet of motion picture film; nearly 100,000 hours of disc, audiotape, and videotape recordings; over 500 TB of electronic data, and close to 750,000 museum objects.”
CEO of the Obama Foundation Valerie Jarrett stated, “We look forward to continuing to work with the National Archives as they provide access to these historic records, and we look forward to displaying artifacts from the Obama Presidential Library in the Foundation’s Obama Presidential Museum, which we will open on the South Side of Chicago in Spring 2026.”
The Barack Obama Presidential Library is number 14 out of the 15 presidential libraries that NARA operates, running from President Herbert Hoover up to Donald J. Trump. The Presidential Libraries and Museums house and provide the public with access to a wealth of information for each presidential administration.
One unique fact about the Obama Presidential Library is that it is the very “first fully digital Presidential library,” which means it will not have a dedicated federal facility with a building. “An estimated 95 percent of the Presidential records of the Obama administration were born digital, such as photos, videos, word-processing documents, tweets, emails, and other standard digital formats. NARA also received approximately 30 million pages of unclassified paper Presidential records.”
Phillips brings more than two decades of experience with libraries and academic institutions. Prior to her latest role, she was Brown University’s first Library Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Before that, she “was the first Johanna-Marie Frankel Curator for Race and Ethnicity at Harvard University’s Schlesinger Library,” and Phillips also was an Assistant Curator for Howard University, her alma mater where she earned her masters in public history and Ph.D. in United States history. Phillips is also a graduate from the University of Tulsa.
“I am excited Dr. Phillips is joining the National Archives as the Director of the Barack Obama Presidential Library. With her extensive experience in libraries and archives and her passion for public history, she will be an excellent steward for our archival and artifact collections and public engagement work,” said Archivist of the United States Dr. Colleen Shogan.
“As the Director of the first digital presidential library in our system, Kenvi will help shape a new course for how we think about access to, and engagement with, the stories and decisions that helped shape our nation,” continued Shogan.
