Two years ago, to celebrate FOIA’s 50th birthday, we filed a request with seven presidential libraries for all of their photos of presidents with cake. As of last year, all but two - the William J. Clinton and George W. Bush Presidential Libraries - had released pictures of their prez with pastry. Today, we’re checking in on the two stragglers, and see if they’ve managed to track down the treats in the last 12 months.
William J. Clinton Presidential Library
Additional Cake Photos Released: Sorta!
So, while we may not have a massive stash of Clinton cake pics to show you at this exact moment, there is one in development as a result of this request. President Clinton and Cake is now a permanent collection within the library …
complete with its own finding aid …
and even more impressive, a linked tag. According to the library, the photos will eventually be scanned and uploaded to the collection page, and “President Clinton holds up an Oktoberfest cake in the Oval Office” will finally be in glorious public domain. Stay tuned!
George W. Bush Presidential Library
Additional Cake Photos Released: No.
Last we heard from the library, the estimated completion dates was an estimated 99 months from July 2017.
Which means we’ve knocked that down to 87 months from now without even working up a sweat! Progress, everyone!
All kidding aside, while enjoying FOIA’s 52nd birthday (and the nation’s 242nd!) today, please take a moment to thank the tireless National Archives staff that run the presidential library system … and demand that they get the funding and staffing to get them running even more smoothly.
Image via the William J. Clinton Presidential Library
