Posted December 03, 2009

My Family House

This posting is for friends and family.

I get many questions about where I find space for my 25,000 books, my children, and also my work as an investor working from home. This is my tenth year living in the same home. My current home is 6,500 sq. ft., technically 34 rooms with 8 bedrooms, but most of it very practical. The house is spacious, but most of it has been put to library, archives, and office use. The house features a congressional-style library and an archives in the lower level. The main level has 16-ft. ceilings with 11-ft. high bookcases. Many features in the house were designed for the protection of my book and manuscript collection. More than 100 windows are UV-light protected, the house has museum-quality temperature and humidity controls, and my rarest books are kept in fire-proof vaults with the highest level of residential security available. The design of the house is influenced by a historic church in Kirtland, Ohio, with fine moldings, keystones, arched divided-light windows, stucco, corner quoins, and a roof spire. A Greek portico in the back area is made of Mississippi River white limestone similar to a favorite historical building in Nauvoo, Illinois. We love to entertain and cook, and welcome visitors.

Our home is the countryside of Jackson County, Missouri, near where 1,200 New York emigrants planned a Christian city, 1831-1833. I am a mile away from a major commercial center but yet on the edge of modern Kansas City with the deer, wild turkeys, and foxes; Burr Oaks Woods, the Little Blue River; and the accompanying ridges, glades, and prairies. Missouri has a moderate climate in the center of the U.S., typically snowing 2-3 times per year, 2-3 inches at a time, and melting in 2-3 days. Missouri has the Mississippi River, the Missouri River, and the Kansas River; has Lake of the Ozarks, Table Rock Lake, and Truman Lake; and has two major cities, Kansas City and St. Louis.

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