2023 Impact Report | Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation

THANKS TO YOU a presidential library is being built and its impact and structure will last in perpetuity. Your gift is helping to create a world-class experience that will celebrate the unique legacy of one of our most influential presidents and actively bring the lessons of Roosevelt’s life—including conservation, leadership, and citizenship into the nation’s present moment. It will include immersive storytelling and new technologies, as well as a first-of-its-kind digital library for an analog president. It will be a platform for embracing civic dialogue, thoughtful debate, and inspiration from around the globe. Thank you again. It is a privilege and an honor to have you in the arena with us on this historic and ambitious journey.

Photo by David Hume Kennerly

Ed O’Keefe
Chief Executive Officer
Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation

DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION

Photo by Chad Ziemendorf

This progress photograph was taken on December 11, 2023. In the foreground is the east building retaining wall with backfill, which provides a glimpse of the most easterly side of the walkable roof as it is starting to take shape. The orange fencing extending out from the south wall demarks the area where the footings and foundation walls for the mechanical tunnel were formed and poured.

With design near completion, construction underway, the native plant project in full swing, and project bidding in progress, the Library is well on its way to achieving its goal of setting new standards for sustainability.

Here are some of the construction statistics:

ADDITIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS

• Completion of ND Flex Funds Application for Chateau Road Reconstruction

• USFS Permit Issued for Construction Road Access Easement

Native Plant Project

63 different seed species were hand collected, including grasses, sedges, forbs, and shrubs.
Over 150 pounds of native seeds have been collected from 13+ sites in the Medora area.
28,267 plugs were grown from collected seed and planted in a two-acre plot at the NDSU-Hettinger site.
3,500 yards of soil were stripped and stockpiled, to be maintained and reused in 2024–25 for the planted roof and other areas onsite.

2023 Milestones

Photos by Chad Ziemendorf

INTERPRETATION & ENGAGEMENT

Over the past few months, the TRPL has entered an exciting new chapter in its development as a world-class presidential library. Our Senior Curator of Collections, Susan Sarna, has been hard at work locating artifacts that are crucial to the interpretation of TR’s story and will enhance the educational experience of the museum.

1) TR’s 1884 book In Memory of My Darling Wife Alice Hathaway Roosevelt and of My Beloved Mother Martha Bulloch Roosevelt

TR wrote his memorial book immediately following the deaths of his beloved mother and first wife. G.P. Putnam’s Sons printed no more than a dozen copies of the book, and TR gave each of them away before departing for North Dakota in 1884. The TRPL is now the proud owner of one of the six copies that are still known to be in existence. The copy in our possession was given to Alice’s sister by TR and bears her signature inside the cover. This book will be exhibited in the museum and will be an integral part of the gallery experience.

2) The Edmund & Sylvia Morris Archives

Our second recent acquisition, The Morris Archives, contains the research, drafts, and notes written and used by Edmund Morris in the creation of his Pulitzer Prize–winning Roosevelt trilogy. The TRPL has obtained ownership of the archive, which also includes notes and research by Sylvia Jukes Morris while writing the biography Edith Kermit Roosevelt: Portrait of a First Lady. We are grateful for our continued partnership with The Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State University, which will dedicate space in the TR Center to house artifacts and papers related to the TRPL and offer TR scholars a place to study these incredible resources.