Penn, Wilmington, Del., the University of Delaware campus, and other locations in the city of Philadelphia are potential locations for President Biden's library.
Credit: Son NguyenPenn is vying to be the site for former Benjamin Franklin Professor of Presidential Practice and President Joe Biden's presidential library according to a recent interview given by the president.
In a Jan. 8, 2025 interview with USA Today, Biden stated, “[the] University of Pennsylvania, which has the Biden School of Foreign Policy, wants me to do [the library] up there.” Penn joins Wilmington, Del., the University of Delaware campus, and other locations in the city of Philadelphia as potential contenders for the library's location, according to Biden.
Biden said that he hopes the library will be in Delaware – either in Wilmington or on the campus of the University of Delaware, which houses the Biden School of Public Policy & Administration – but emphasized that he has yet to make a decision.
“I’ve talked to former presidents. Apparently building the library is a giant undertaking,” Biden said in the interview. “And so I just haven’t made a decision yet … I honest to God haven’t decided.”
Biden also stated last year that he wants to return to the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington D.C. after the end of his presidential term. Penn Biden Center served as Biden’s main office in Washington between his departure from the vice presidency in 2017 and the start of his presidency.
Several prominent members of the Biden administration — including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Counselor to the President Steve Ricchetti — held leadership roles at the Penn Biden Center.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said in an interview with WHYY that she will lobby for Biden to choose a site in Philadelphia for the library, although not necessarily at Penn. She referenced Biden’s career as a senator for Delaware, during which some called him “Pennsylvania's third senator.”
Parker said that she will work with Chief Deputy Mayor Sinceré Harris — who formerly held a job in the Biden White House, but left to run Parker’s campaign for mayor — to prepare a pitch and make the case for Philadelphia.
“The fact that we would refer to President Joe Biden, from Scranton with very strong Philadelphia roots, as our third United States Senator, [is] appropriate,” she said. “I would love for his library to be here in Philadelphia, the birthplace of Democracy.”
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