Partners Subscribe
TravelJourney Out WestStills

Journey Out West: The Nixon Library

A replica Oval Office, two spacesuits, the seal in the floor, and the farmhouse where he was born. A stop in Yorba Linda on the drive west.

Photographs by Will Fullerton 3 min read
The library lobby, with the presidential seal set into the floor
Photographs by Will Fullerton

The Nixon Library sits in Yorba Linda, beside the small house where he was born. A stop on the drive west, and a strange, quiet place: a replica Oval Office and East Room, spacesuits from the years of the Moon landings, the presidential seal set into the floor wherever you look.

The Oval Office, as it was.
The Oval Office, as it was.
The seal, underfoot.
The seal, underfoot.
Two spacesuits.
Two spacesuits.
A note in his own hand.
A note in his own hand.
A figure in the study.
A figure in the study.
The colonnade.
The colonnade.
The reflecting pool.
The reflecting pool.
The gardens.
The gardens.
Bronze, on a bench.
Bronze, on a bench.

Outside, the grounds are a garden and a pool, and at the end of the path the farmhouse his father built. A docent stands by the fireplace and tells it as if it were his own family.

The house where he was born.
The house where he was born.
The dining room.
The dining room.
The docent at the fireplace.
The docent at the fireplace.
An open book.
An open book.
The library across the water.
The library across the water.
The East Room.
The East Room.

Back inside, the light does most of the talking.

Window light on the floor.
Window light on the floor.
The eagle.
The eagle.
The lobby: the portrait and the seal.
The lobby: the portrait and the seal.
The rotunda.
The rotunda.

Then the film camera. I let the roll run twice through the same rooms, so the pictures came back with two places in each: the portrait and the window, the chandelier and the founding page, the way a museum feels after an afternoon inside it.

On film: the portrait and the room.
On film: the portrait and the room.
On film: “Study the past.”
On film: “Study the past.”
On film: the chandelier over the founding page.
On film: the chandelier over the founding page.
On film: the page and the light, again.
On film: the page and the light, again.
On film: the seal.
On film: the seal.
On film: the gardens through the glass.
On film: the gardens through the glass.
On film: the gazebo and the palms.
On film: the gazebo and the palms.
On film: the window.
On film: the window.
On film: the East Room, with the flag.
On film: the East Room, with the flag.
On film: the portrait and the flag.
On film: the portrait and the flag.
On film: visitors under the portrait in the lobby.
On film: visitors under the portrait in the lobby.
On film: E pluribus unum.
On film: E pluribus unum.

Photographed on Leica and on film by Will Fullerton.

All in the series
  1. No. 1 Journey Out West: On Film Dallas to the Pacific with a roll of film: the desert, the trucks left behind, and the light changing before the land does. Stills
  2. No. 2 Journey Out West: The People Strangers at the roadside, a trucker and his rig, a band in Santa Fe, and a premiere night in Los Angeles. Portraits from the drive west. Stills
  3. No. 3 Journey Out West: The Nixon Library A replica Oval Office, two spacesuits, the seal in the floor, and the farmhouse where he was born. A stop in Yorba Linda on the drive west. Stills

More from Travel

All of Travel