The Nixon Library, Yuen Long [1954-1977]

Submitted by David on Thu, 04/28/2016 - 16:08
Current condition
Demolished / No longer exists
Date completed
(Day & Month are approximate.)
Date closed / demolished
(Day & Month are approximate.)

Thanks to IDJ for pointing out this article:

The First Nixon Library

Except for its name, there was little remarkable about the modest library that stood in the neighborhood of Yuen Long on the outskirts of Hong Kong from 1954 until 1977.

It held only a few thousand books and employed just one librarian, and its patrons were mostly schoolchildren, farmers, and shopkeepers. Nevertheless, the humble building was a monument to Richard Nixon.

Read more: http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2009/summer/nixon.html

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Photos that show this Place

Richard Nixon Library-Yuen Long
1954
yuenlongnixonlibold-420x265.png
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Comments

Hi David,

Found a blog entry about the library.  It is in Chinese though.   The National Archive entry focused more about Nixon himself but the blog entry talked a bit more about Tang Kin Sun instead.   The blog entry also mentioned an Nixon's unexpected visit to a  primary school (元朗商會小學, with photos).

T

 

Does anyone know (or perhaps remember) the names any of the books that were available? I read  in a SCMP article that 200 books were donated by USIS, and I'd be really interested to know the kind of books they tended to 'donate'.

Just a summary in English of the Nixon Library's lifespan, translating from terewong's excellent posts in Chinese:  

  • 1954-1961: Nixon Library's original location (relocated in 1961 to make way for the Hongkong Bank branch in Yuen Long, which still operates to this day)
  • 1961-1970: Nixon Library operates at 1/F, Ying Yip House, 140 Castle Peak Road Yuen Long
  • 1970: Nixon Library relocates to 3/F, Yuen Long Town Hall
  • 1978: its day-to-day operations are transferred to the Hong Kong Government's Urban Services Department, whereupon it becomes a "public library")
  • 28-Jun-1984: Yuen Long Public Library opens at Yuen Long Government Building (1/F), Kiu Lok Square
  • Feb 2017: according to terewong's excellent post, a reading room at Room 412 in Yuen Long Town Hall was (at the time) still home to "a collection of residual English and Chinese-language books dating back to the 1970's and 1980's, Hong Kong Government Yearly Reports and literature books from the Nixon Library's catalogue, all stamped '元朗大會堂尼克遜圖書館 YUEN LONG TOWN HALL RICHARD M. NIXON LIBRARY' ")
  • 19-Jun-2019: Yuen Long Public Library relocates to Yuen Long Leisure and Cultural Building (G/F & 1/F), 52 Ma Tin Road. Yuen Long Sports Centre is housed in the same building.

June 2024: Unsure where, or if, any of the Nixon Library's collection are still accessible (will need to be followed-up).