Nice Job, North Dakota

It’s taken me a few days to absorb what I saw at the Grand Opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. I was so taken aback by the incredible technology they’ve used, and the spectacular design and construction of the building, I didn’t even want to try to write about it.

But I must. Because you need to know what they’ve accomplished out there on a Bad Lands Butte, looking down at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and Medora, and Interstate-94, the road that will take you there. Take it. Soon. You won’t regret it.   

First, let me salute three people. First and second, Ed O’Keefe and Randy Hatzenbuhler, the duo who raised the money to build it. Ed’s been CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation since the project started. Randy is the retired president of the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation (note they both have the name Theodore Roosevelt in their non-profit organizations) who stepped aside from his job there for a  while to help start the original fundraising program, and then turned it over to Ed to finish it. They both did good. Between them, they’ve raised enough to spend nearly half a billion dollars to build a Presidential Library. Right here on the prairie in North Dakota. And third, Robbie Lauf, Executive Director of TRPL, got to spend the money. And man, did he build a spectacular place. Nice work, fellas.

I can’t think of any other North Dakota nonprofits who’ve accomplished a half-billion dollar project. Those men are my heroes today.

I can’t even begin to describe the place. I’ll just say this: I’m pretty sure there is nothing else like it in the world. I’ll start by showing you what it looks like from a distance. Here’s a photo I took from an overlook in Theodore Roosevelt National Park (I almost never go to the Bad Lands without driving through the Park). Every single visitor to the Park from now on (The National Park Service says there are about 750,000 of them each year) will look off to the south and wonder what that is down there, and many, if not most, will go take a look when they come back from the Park. Ya think they chose that location for the Library by accident?

Now, I wish I could show you some photos of the inside of the Library. But I can’t. I was so awestruck by the time I got 15 feet inside the building I didn’t think to take my phone out of my pocket to take some photos. And it is hard to describe.

First, as you enter, in the open air atrium you’ll see the 30-fot tall walls, layer upon layer of rammed earth, made with Bad Lands soil, each a different shade of Bad Lands bluff color. It’s like looking at the Bad Lands up close, inside.

Then, as you enter the exhibit area, you stop and have your photo taken, and you get a little wristband with a little wooden compass on it. You’ll wonder what that is for until you get to the first high tech, AI exhibit, where you hold it up to a screen and have your photo taken again. AI then puts you into a Roosevelt-era setting photo and sends it to you in an e-mail. Actually more than one. Here are some of the ones they sent me.

The AI experience follows you throughout the building. At one point you actually get to stop and talk to Theodore Roosevelt. And he talks back. You have a casual conversation. And then move onto the next spectacular exhibit. Really.

I didn’t take advantage of every exhibit during my visit there Friday, July 3. I was there for a sneak preview of the Library as part of a group of people who have been instrumental in the development of the project. That’s because my wife Lillian, in her role as Library Director at Dickinson State University’s Stoxen Library, was one of a small group of people who first envisioned a Presidential Library in North Dakota, originally planned to be located on the DSU campus.

I remember the first time I ever heard the words “Theodore Roosevelt Presidential LIbrary” in North Dakota. It was a meeting in a conference room at DSU sometime around 2006 or 2007. DSU President Lee Vickers, himself something of a visionary, called a group of people together to talk about the possibility of such a thing. Lillian let me tag along. I can’t remember everyone sitting around that table, but I do know that my friend, historian and scholar Clay Jenkinson, said these four words: “Theodore Rosevelt Presidential Library.” The first time I ever heard those words spoken in North Dakota.

Clay’s persistence in subsequent years led us not only to a Presidential Library in North Dakota today, but also to the creation of the Theodore Roosevelt Center at DSU, containing the digital archives of hundreds of thousands of Roosevelt documents and photos, and hosting the University’s honors program, the Theodore Roosevelt Scholars. That center will be a partner in all things Theodore Roosevelt as the Library grows into the future.

That meeting started the ball rolling, and while we all believed that Dickinson State University was the perfect home for it, because we couldn’t imagine the little town of Medora being able to host it, it did eventually get moved to Medora. I really appreciated the fact the TRPL folks didn’t forget Lillian’s early involvement. I was lucky enough to be invited to accompany her on the sneak preview the day before it officially opened on Independence Day.

So thank you to Lillian and Clay and those others whose vision brought us to this point.

And now it is a reality. It is nothing like a library, although there are books in some of the exhibits. I’m pretty sure it is the most high-tech museum in the world. I will go back soon and spend a day absorbing the entire thing. On my initial visit, Lillian and I spent about 90 minutes wandering through the building, and then taking a walk on the path that runs across the roof of the building, which is overlain with native prairie plants. It’s like someone built a cement trail across a Bad Lands Butte, something an old guy like me really appreciated. I don’t climb many buttes any more.

Out in Medora over the weekend, we stuck around overnight so we could see the spectacular drone show, but it got weathered out. So we didn’t get to see it in person. But if you click on this link, thanks to The Library’s PR guy, Matt Briney, you can watch a pretty good video of what was shown the nights before and after we were there. Scroll ahead to the 1:36 mark. Man, I wish I had been there to see it in person.

We spent the night in Medora so Lillian could do a volunteer day at the Badlands Conservation Alliance booth in the gathering area in Medora’s Chimney Park. Unfortunately, most of the folks who came to Medora on July 4^th went straight up the hill to the Library’s Grand Opening ceremony, so Lillian and her fellow volunteers didn’t get to tell a lot of people about BCA.

I was among those who went up the hill. They took us up on buses from a gathering place down below because they weren’t able to handle as many cars up there as would have likely driven up. I sat down on the bus and struck up a conversation with the stranger beside me. He was a quiet, unassuming fellow, middle-aged, and said he was from Minneapolis. Since the Grand Opening was a ticketed event, I asked him what his connection was to the library. He said causally, “My company designed the exhibits.”

Wow. I was sitting beside greatness, and told him so, and how impressed I was with what he had done. I’ll treasure that 5-minute trip up the hill.

By the way, l think the fact they arranged for transportation that 4^th of July day was a good idea, but somebody really overestimated the crowds that were expected in Medora. There were news stories about 30,000 or 40,000 people showing up for the Grand Opening. There were a few thousand, although they did come from far and wide. I took a drive through the parking lot at the bus stop and counted license plates from more than 20 states.

I think what happened is most North Dakotans saw those numbers estimates and wisely stayed home and celebrated the 4^th of July like they always do, and let the tourists from elsewhere enjoy their visit. But I don’t doubt for a minute many, if not most, North Dakotans will come to visit once the word spreads about how great this place is.

Oh, and speaking of tourists, I bumped into our United States Senator, Kevin Cramer, who, like me, is a former North Dakota Tourism Director. We both agreed we’d like to be Tourism Director again now. Lucky Sara Coleman!

So I’ve seen the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. Up close and at a distance. But not for very long. Not long enough to absorb the messages inside those walls—I was too blown away by the technology. So I’ll go back, soon, and spend a day there. All day. Maybe I’ll see you there.

One more thing. The TRPL is not the only place to see a spectacular museum exhibit in North Dakota right now. There’s one at the North Dakota Heritage Center you don’t want to miss.

The staff at the State Historical Society has put together a North Dakota tribute to America’s 250th birthday, telling the story of our state’s past, present and future in a way I’ve never seen before in a North Dakotoa museum, or a museum anywhere.

I’ve visited twice to be sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. I’m going back soon to absorb the detail in the exhibit. On my first two trips I’ve just observed the presentation. I’ll report.

So now, as we help the United States of America celebrate her 250th birthday, we have two world-class museums to enjoy for ourselves after the tourists have gone home. I’m just an ordinary North Dakotan, not a Museum Nerd, or a History Major, but I’m awfully proud of my state right now. I can tell you, just sitting here at my computer after writing this, I can almost feel the buttons popping off my shirt.