American Presidency: Educational Resources

The National Portrait Gallery began to acquire the likenesses of American presidents shortly after the museum was established by Congress in 1962, and a number of portraits, including paintings of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, and John F. Kennedy, were already in the collection when the museum opened to the public in 1968. During the 1970s, portraits of Jimmy Carter, James Monroe, and John Adams were among the several paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures that the museum purchased or received.