2013 TR Symposium

Theodore Roosevelt and American Culture

Theodore Roosevelt was a cowboy, big game hunter, and the exemplar of the “strenuous life,” but he was also one of the best educated Presidents in American history. He loved culture, including high culture, as much as he loved action. He held strong – and surprisingly enlightened – opinions on the writing of history, on American literature, on authentic frontier culture, and on dance, music and art. With the help of his more refined wife Edith, TR made the White House a center for artistic performance and conversation. We explored TR’s enormous cultural energies during the eighth annual Theodore Roosevelt Symposium.

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“Let us profit by the scholarship, art, and literature of every other country and every other time; let us adapt to our own use whatever is of value in any other language, in any other literature, in any other art; but let us keep steadily in mind that in every field of endeavor the work best worth doing for Americans must in some degree express the distinctive characteristics of our own national soul.”

Address at the annual meeting of the American Academy and the National Institute of Arts and Letters, November 16, 1916

Schedule

Thursday, November 14, 2013

6:00 p.m.	Registration – May Hall
7:00 p.m.	Welcome and Introductions
7:30 p.m.	Keynote Address: Stephen Levine – “American Culture at the Turn of the Twentieth Century”

Friday, November 15, 2013

8:00 a.m.	Registration/Breakfast – May Hall
9:00 a.m.	Opening Remarks
9:15 a.m.	Hal Cannon – “TR and John Lomax: The Preservation of Cowboy Culture”
9:45 a.m.	Q & A with Hal Cannon
10:00 a.m.	Break
10:15 a.m.	Roger Di Silvestro – “TR and the ‘Western’: Dime Novels, Mayne Reid and Owen Wister”
10:45 a.m.	Q & A with Roger Di Silvestro
11:00 a.m.	Panel: Stephen Levine, Hal Cannon, Roger Di Silvestro, Clay Jenkinson (moderator)
11:45 a.m.	Lunch
1:00 p.m.	Michael Patrick Cullinane – “Roosevelt and Film”
1:30 p.m.	Q & A with Michael Patrick Cullinane
1:45 p.m.	Break
2:00 p.m.	Beverly Everett – “The Roosevelt White House and the Arts”
2:40 p.m.	Q & A with Beverly Everett
3:00 p.m.	Multimedia Presentation by Theodore Roosevelt Center staff – “Theodore Roosevelt on Film and in Music”
4:45 p.m.	Social – Alumni and Foundation House
5:30 p.m.	Dinner – TBD
7:00 p.m.	Performance by Hal Cannon

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Field trip to Medora, ND

8:15 a.m.	Registration for Field Trip/Breakfast – Student Center
9 a.m.	Buses leave
9:45 a.m.	Panel with guest scholars – A wide-ranging discussion and synthesis of symposium themes
11:30 a.m.	Lunch and field trip – TBD
4 p.m.	Closing Reception – North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame

Speakers

STEPHEN LEVINE
Title: “American Culture at the Turn of the Twentieth Century”

Biography: Stephen L. Levine is on the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies Program Faculty at the University of Virginia. He teaches a wide range of courses that explore the cultural history of the United States, and is particularly interested in Theodore Roosevelt’s understanding of and involvement in the arts. His most recent publication is “’A Serious Art and Literature of Our Own’: Exploring Theodore Roosevelt’s Art World,” a chapter in A Companion to Theodore Roosevelt. He is currently revising a manuscript on Roosevelt and the arts.

HAL CANNON
Title: “TR and John Lomax: The Preservation of Cowboy Culture”

Biography: Hal Cannon is a songwriter, musician, radio producer and folklorist. He has been playing music most of his life and has gathered together many original songs and traditional folk tunes and songs. The founding Director of the Western Folklife Center in Elko, Nevada, and its famous child, the Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Hal has published books and recordings on the folk arts of the West including his bestselling anthology,Cowboy Poetry, A Gathering.

Cannon has produced many radio and television documentaries. The series, What’s In A Song, airs on NPR’s Weekend Edition on 800 stations across the country. With his wife, author Teresa Jordan, Cannon created the series The Open Road: Exploring America’s Favorite Places which was featured on Savvy Traveler. Hal has recently co-produced In the Footsteps of John Lomax for Australia’s Radio National.

MICHAEL PATRICK CULLINANE

Title: “Roosevelt and Film”

Biography: Michael Patrick Cullinane is senior lecturer in history and director of distance learning at Northumbria University in the United Kingdom. Born and raised in New Jersey, Cullinane has studied American foreign policy and transatlantic relations since 2001. He taught and researched at University College Cork (National University of Ireland) on US history in the Progressive Era and Cold War before moving to Northumbria. His current book, Liberty and American Anti-Imperialism, 1898-1909, explores the history of opposition to early twentieth century American foreign policy.

ROGER DISILVESTRO
Title: “TR and the ‘Western’: Dime Novels, Mayne Reid and Owen Wister”

Biography: Roger Di Silvestro is the author of the highly acclaimed Theodore Roosevelt in the Badlands: A Young Politician’s Quest for Recovery in the American West. He is also well-known for his nature writing, including The Endangered Kingdom: The Struggle to Save America’s Wildlife. He is a senior editor at National Wildlifemagazine and a contributing writer for flixandfolios.com, an online magazine devoted to book and movie reviews.

BEVERLY EVERETT

Title: “The Roosevelt White House and the Arts”

Biography: Beverly Everett is music director for both the Bemidji Symphony Orchestra and the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra. She received the 2013 “Shining Star” award from the Bismarck chapter of the Philanthropic Educational Association (PEO). She is a member of the national advisory committee to the Institute for Women’s Leadership and Social Responsibility at Cottey College. Everett holds degrees in organ and conducting from Baylor University, where she was a Presser Foundation Scholar, and from the University of Iowa, where she earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts.

Photos

Dr. D. C. Coston welcomes the audience on the first night of the Symposium.	Stephen Levine delivers his keynote address, “American Culture at the Turn of the Twentieth Century.”
Dr. Coston uses an ipad to demonstrate the Theodore Roosevelt Center website for a participant.	Participants enjoy refreshments after the keynote address on Thursday night.
Hal Cannon performs while presenting his lecture, “TR and John Lomax: The Preservation of Cowboy Culture.”	Roger Di Silvestro delivers his speech, “TR and the ‘Western’: Dime Novels, Mayne Reid and Owen Wister.”
Panelists discuss cowboy culture and the ‘Western’, including how this culture fits into the larger culture of America at the turn of the twentieth century.	Michael Patrick Cullinane discusses “Roosevelt and Film.”
Beverly Everett includes a performance in her presentation on “The Roosevelt White House and the Arts.”	Heather Cole describes the importance of collaboration and how the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Houghton Library of Harvard University fits into the Theodore Roosevelt Center.
Theodore Roosevelt Center staff demonstrate new features of the website.	Stephen Levine joins Hal Cannon for a few songs during Hal’s performance on Friday evening.
Panelists take questions from the audience on Saturday morning at the Rough Riders Hotel in Medora, ND.	After lunch at the Rough Riders Hotel, participants split up for two hikes in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
One group visited the Old East Entrance with a park ranger.	The other group went on a “strenuous” hike with Park Superintendent Valerie Naylor.
Light rain made the “strenuous” hike more challenging than participants had expected.	The rain also brought out glorious fall colors in the unencumbered views.
Some of the Park’s herd of feral horses were interested in our intrepid hikers.	All of these participants walked 3.7 miles in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in November. What a feat!

Videos

Opening remarks for the Theodore Roosevelt Symposium at Dickinson State University.

Stephen Levine delivers his keynote address, “American Culture at the Turn of the Twentieth Century.”

Clay Jenkinson and Dr. D. C. Coston give the opening remarks at the Friday session.

Hal Cannon discusses “TR and John Lomax: The Preservation of Cowboy Culture.”

Roger Di Silvestro presents on “TR and the ‘Western’: Dime Novels, Mayne Reid and Owen Wister.”

Stephen Levine, Hal Cannon, and Roger Di Silvestro participate in a panel discussion moderated by Clay Jenkinson.

Michael Cullinane gives his lecture, “Roosevelt and Film.”

Beverly Everett discusses “The Roosevelt White House and the Arts.”

The Theodore Roosevelt Center offers a multimedia presentation, “Theodore Roosevelt on Film and in Music.”

The closing panel of the 2013 Theodore Roosevelt Symposium in Medora, North Dakota.