The Barack Obama Presidential Center has now cost more than $800 million to complete, Chief Washington Correspondent James Rosen told Newsmax on Friday.
The fortress-like behemoth on the South Side of Chicago, which is several years behind schedule, resembles no other presidential library, Rosen said in an appearance on "Newsmax2."
"It is also the first such institution to be funded completely by private contributors, with organizers donating some of those funds to the National Archives to digitize the 30 million records from the Obama presidency," Rosen said.
None of those records will be stored on-site, Rosen said, noting they'll be at the "Archives II" facility in College Park, Maryland.
"Visitors to the Obama Center looking to research those files will use kiosks linking to the digitized records," Rosen said. "The only other presidential library whose records are housed elsewhere is Gerald Ford's."
Researchers, including Brooks Simpson, a professor of history at Arizona State University who has researched or lectured at seven presidential libraries, spanning from Abraham Lincoln to George H.W. Bush, have expressed concern about this setup.
"Digital libraries often mean that you have to know what you're looking for," Simpson, the author of seven books, said.
"And part of research is finding things you weren't looking for and fitting those pieces into a larger puzzle," Simpson added.
"So there's nothing serendipitous anymore about this research. You have to know what you're looking for and you're only going to find what people want you to find," Simpson continued.
The Obama Center did not respond to a request for comment. It is scheduled to open in June.
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Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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