Like many young historians in the 1970s, David Alsobrook fell victim to the PhD glut and the shrinking number of vacancies in traditional academic jobs. His completion of the Auburn University Archival Training Program in 1975 provided him with an alternative beyond teaching. This memoir focuses on Alsobrook's archival career at the Alabama Department of Archives and History and three Presidential libraries. Based on his contemporaneous personal journals, correspondence, and notes, PRESIDENTIAL ARCHIVIST includes details about academic and practical training and the revolutionary impact of computerization upon the archival profession. During his National Archives career, Alsobrook had the unique opportunity to know Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, George H. W. and Barbara Bush, George W. and Laura Bush, and Bill and Hillary Clinton. Alsobrook reveals that public perceptions of Presidents and First Ladies often are quite different from the actual occupants of the White House.