Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library

The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library reimagines what a presidential library can be. Rather than asking visitors to simply observe history, the TRPL is designed to help them live it by transporting them into Roosevelt’s world and making them active participants in his story.

From the outset, the exhibits were conceived to engage the head, hands, and heart—combining intellectual discovery, physical participation, and emotional connection. Across the Library, immersive world-building, emerging technologies, and strong storytelling come together to create a transformative experience celebrating Roosevelt’s life and legacy.

The experience is built around two complementary sides of Roosevelt: He was a Man of Action and a Man of Words. The Narrative Galleries form the spine of the museum and reflect Roosevelt as a Man of Words: Here, participants encounter Roosevelt’s life story through artifacts, letters, photographs, and films that ground them in his historical context, life, and legacy. The Adventure Galleries, on the other hand, celebrate TR as a Man of Action. They bring the chapters of Roosevelt’s story to life through embodied, multisensory environments that allow guests to step into the worlds he inhabited and experience his adventures firsthand.

Throughout the Library, the spaces themselves become storytelling canvases: a projected White House façade brings the story of his presidency to life, and a physical hill becomes the setting for the Battle of Kettle Hill. In "The River of Doubt," participants sit in canoes as a 14-minute, 360-degree film is projected across all four walls and the floor, enveloping them in the harsh landscape of Roosevelt’s grueling Amazon expedition. Visitors also board a train and gather around a campfire, moving through environments designed to make Roosevelt’s world tangible and immediate.

At the center of this participatory experience is the Trailblazer Compass, an RFID-enabled wearable that records participants’ choices in interactive activities across the Library to make their journey unique. Guests can design a personal cattle brand, create a campaign poster, consider how they would have voted on historical issues, and make a pledge of action. These choices culminate in the final gallery, where participants are assigned an archetype that reveals the role they might play in making the world a better place. TR leaves them with a personal message that encourages them to join others in carrying forth his legacy.

To further personalize the participant journey, the Library embraces emerging technologies. In partnership with Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab, "Talk with TR" allows visitors to have natural conversations with a lifelike avatar of Theodore Roosevelt, powered by an AI that was specially trained on his archive. This piece, in particular, not only makes his archive accessible to more people, but also empowers participants to explore his history according to their own curiosity. AI Photo Stations similarly place participants directly into Roosevelt’s world by allowing them to picture themselves in roles including Rough Rider, president, cowboy, and explorer. Cutting-edge technology is seamlessly integrated into the exhibit design to enable participants to enter the story, interact with it, and see themselves within it.

The result is a museum designed not simply to tell Roosevelt’s story but to make visitors part of it. Through a thoughtful combination of exhibit design, architecture, and emerging media, the TRPL offers a more embodied, participatory way to engage with history—one that is designed to help visitors learn from TR rather than just about him, and to carry those lessons forward into action.

Partners

Snøhetta

Future of StoryTelling

Local Projects

Dimensional Innovations

Cortina Productions

RLMG

Redglass Pictures

Electrosonic

Microsoft

JLG Architects

JE Dunn

Blue Rhino Studio

Split Rock Studio

B Morrow Productions

Beanstalk Builders

GMR Marketing

DGTL Workshop

LemonSlice

Vincent Lighting Systems

Arup

Golterman & Sabo

Winnienoah Productions

Studio Loutsis

Smart Monkeys

Scalable Display Technologies

The project brought together a multidisciplinary team of creative studios, media producers, technology partners, and fabricators to create an integrated, media-rich visitor experience.

Future of StoryTelling (FoST) — Executive Creative Directors and Storytellers; developed the Library’s storytelling strategy and Story Guide and oversaw the full interpretive exhibition, including all physical and media experiences, from development through fabrication and installation, encompassing more than 60 custom media experiences.

Local Projects — Exhibit Designer and Media Producer; led exhibition and experience design across the Library, including the design and production of complex interactive and immersive experiences such as the Roosevelt Museum of Natural History, Cuba, and The River of Doubt.

Cortina Productions — Lead Media Producer; produced major exhibition media, including Trailblazer, and collaborated with other media partners on interactive and linear content.

Richard Lewis Media Group (RLMG) — Media Producer; produced a range of exhibition media, including interactive experiences, animation, and linear content.

Redglass Pictures — Linear and Documentary Media Producer; produced documentary-focused exhibition content.

Electrosonic — Audiovisual Integration; provided audiovisual systems integration, including projection, LED, sound, programming, and installation.

Dimensional Innovations — Exhibit Fabrication and Integration; fabricated and integrated the exhibitions’ physical and interactive components.

Blue Rhino Studio — Scenic Fabrication; Split Rock Studio — Casework and Specialty Fabrication; B Morrow Productions — Props and Specialty Fabrication; Vincent Lighting Systems — Lighting Integration. Provided specialized scenic fabrication, casework, props, specialty fabrication, and lighting integration that brought the media and exhibit concepts into the physical gallery environment. These teams worked as Dimensional Innovations subcontractors.

Microsoft — Technology Partner across TRPL and for Talk with TR, working with GMR Marketing, DGTL Workshop, and LemonSlice on the AI-powered experience.