Theodore Roosevelt Center
Connecting the public to Theodore Roosevelt’s enduring legacy.
Launched in 2007, the Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State University (DSU) is the premiere institution preserving and analyzing the remarkable legacy of our nation’s 26th president.
In addition to hosting an annual symposium, the team at the Theodore Roosevelt Center hosts and curates an expansive digital library of Roosevelt-related documents, ephemera, and photographs. Accessible to anyone for free, this digital archive is a treasure trove of primary source materials for scholars, students, and the general public.
The Problem
Surfacing a tremendous wealth of information about Theodore Roosevelt
Letting users go deep
TRC has no shortage of content. What they lacked when they came to Big Sea was a way for people to easily find that content — especially on mobile. They needed a custom digital library with flawless mobile performance.
Accessibility even with low bandwidth
The Theodore Roosevelt Center team expressed early on that this site had to be as lightweight as possible for folks accessing it from remote locations with questionable wifi or mobile data. This put interesting constraints on design — but we were more than up for the challenge.
The strategy
Nerding out together
To kick off research and discovery, the Big Sea team conducted a digital workshop with staff and stakeholders at the Theodore Roosevelt Center. From day one, we knew this was going to be a match made in heaven. We love passionate, smart clients — and we were excited to meet their energy. Together, we identified strategic priorities and laid the groundwork for a successful project.
Updating a stale brand palette
The Theodore Roosevelt Center was desperately in need of a makeover. Without fully rebranding TRC, we honed in on a new web palette with a vintage feel that evoked the beautiful colors of the landscape of North Dakota, the center’s home.
Revamping a clunky digital library
With over 130,000 records, how can a digital library possibly surface all of its content to visitors? We tackled this challenge by providing a variety of entry points into Theodore Roosevelt’s writing, photos, and ephemera. Through curated collections, a dynamic and filterable search, and an automated archive of new content, we put history in the hands of today’s website visitors. No time machine required.
Inspiring donor support
Mission-driven nonprofits like the Theodore Roosevelt Center rely on funding from a variety of sources, including individual donors and corporate sponsors. Clear calls-to-action and a redesigned donation page created smooth pathways for website visitors to support their favorite presidential archive.
A mobile-friendly digital archive to connect today’s researchers to a legacy of leadership
The Theodore Roosevelt Center came to Big Sea for our experience designing websites for cultural institutions. Unlike many museum websites, TRC’s new experience needed to host a dynamic digital library accessible to scholars and the public.
Our specific objectives were to:
- Organize TRC’s information architecture with an eye toward all the unique and dynamic ways individual records (such as historic letters and photos) are discoverable.
- Design a beautiful, accessible, responsive website that makes it easy for scholars, students, and history enthusiasts of all ages to learn more about Theodore Roosevelt and access information about his life and legacy.
- Develop an admin-friendly website on WordPress with a custom library of digital multimedia records that can easily be updated by TRC’s staff of dedicated historians and curators.
I am a tough critic, and I cannot praise Big Sea enough. I will recommend them to everyone who will listen. From the outset, when we explained our tight budget, to the adjustments made throughout the project, Big Sea helped us step-by-step. They clearly have a strong customer service model, and they have amazing colleagues who make the company a success.
Michael Cullinane, PhDCo-Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Center
The results
A user-friendly resource for scholars and the public
Scholars from around the world can now access the Theodore Roosevelt Center digital library from any device — even from their phones. This crucial update has broadened the reach of the center and allowed Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy to endure.
Whether a website visitor is a sixth grader writing a paper or a doctoral candidate working on a dissertation, they can easily find the primary source materials needed to highlight and analyze the remarkable legacy of Theodore Roosevelt.
