Dickinson State University hosts an annual public humanities symposium on Theodore Roosevelt.  These symposia are scheduled in September or October on the campus of Dickinson State University in Dickinson, North Dakota.

Each symposium features a nationally-recognized keynote speaker, a series of lectures by prominent Roosevelt scholars, banquets and receptions, and a field trip to places in North Dakota that were of importance to Roosevelt.

The first symposium was held on the DSU campus October 12-14, 2006. The subject was Theodore Roosevelt: The Adventurer in the Arena.  The keynote speaker was Candice Millard, author of River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey.  Other presenters included Patricia O’Toole, the author of When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt After the White House, Tweed Roosevelt, and Douglas Brinkley, author of a forthcoming study of Roosevelt and conservation.

The second symposium was held on the DSU campus September 13-15, 2007.  The theme was Theodore Roosevelt and America’s Place in the World Arena.  The keynote speaker was H.W. Brands, author of T.R.: The Last Romantic.  Other presenters included Tweed Roosevelt, D. Jerome Tweton (an expert on the Marquis de Mores), Kristin Hoganson, author of Fighting for American Manhood: How Gender Politics Provoked the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars, and John Milton Cooper, author of The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt.

DSU’s third symposium is scheduled for October 9-11, 2008, near Roosevelt’s 150th birthday.  Our subject is Roosevelt: Conservationist in the Arena.  Douglas Brinkley has agreed to be the keynote speaker.

These symposia are not academic conferences. They are public humanities events, funded in part by the North Dakota Humanities Council.  They are meant to appeal to a broad general public, including high school students. 

For more information, call 701-483-2166 or 1-866-496-8797.