Summer at the Theodore Roosevelt Center

Staff across the Dickinson State University (DSU) campus are taking advantage of the quiet summer months to prepare for the busy Fall and Spring semesters. This summer is busier than ever at the Theodore Roosevelt Center (TRC) while staff prepare for the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora. “Summer is when tourists come to North Dakota and with the increased emphasis on Theodore Roosevelt in western ND, we expect the TR Center's gallery will be busier than usual,” said TRC Co-Director Micheal Cullinane. “That means leading groups through the latest exhibit on TR and the Navy and showcasing the Sagamore Hill reading room. We're very proud of these spaces and look forward to sharing them with visitors.”

In addition to providing information to tourists and visiting history fans, the TRC runs a graduate internship program for students in History, Library Science, and related fields. The bulk of the training is completed in June, and the interns work throughout the summer. Once the TRC interns are hard at work, the full-time staff will get to work organizing and inventorying many recently received physical collections. The TRC is also setting up exhibit tours during the campus America 250 celebrations and showing artifacts to the public on July 1 in conjunction with the local book launch of Dr. Cullinane’s latest book. TRC public historian Dr. William Hansard will be taking on the lead role in Teddy and Alice, a family-friendly musical production from the TRC, DSU Blue Hawk Theatre Guild, and the Badlands Opera Project.

While these summer months at TRC will center the local tourist rush, Co-Director Erik Johnson stresses that the TRC is for everyone, all of the time. “We have an active volunteer program for people both near and far who help us do some of the preliminary cataloging work, and help us make items more accessible online faster. It’s always a joy to be able to share the work we do with interested people who are excited to see the things we have to show them and who ask really great questions about the work we do.”

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Written by Sarah Griffis – DSU HF Content Writer

About the Theodore Roosevelt Center

The Theodore Roosevelt Center (TRC) originated as part of Dickinson State University’s (DSU) 2000 Theodore Roosevelt initiative; a collection of projects aimed at showcasing the impact of Theodore Roosevelt (TR)on North Dakota and vice versa. The TRC was officially established in September 2007, and digitization of documents began in 2008. The TRC digital library is an open resource of letters, speeches, film and audio recordings, news articles, photographs, diary entries, and more by and about Roosevelt. The TRC is currently located in Lowman Walton Hall at DSU.