The dramatic change which occurred in the ownership of presidential papers due to litigation surrounding former President Nixon's papers is the underlying theme in this discussion of the property aspects of presidential papers from George Washington to the present. The paper begins with the background and a brief summary of the Supreme Court case Nixon v. Administrator of General Services (1977), which upheld the constitutionality of legislation denying Mr. Nixon his presidential material. Additional topics include: (1) the property challenge for each side in that case; (2) a description of presidential papers; (3) a survey of past practice and law regarding the ownership and custody/control of presidential papers; (4) concepts of property revealed in the post-1974 events; (5) the role of Nixon v. Administrator of General Services in terminating presidential ownership of presidential material; (6) the pro and con arguments of presidential ownership; and (7) a summary of the provisions of the Presidential ...