Henry A. Wallace Visitor, Education, and Conference Center

"A New Deal for the Visitors..."
The Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Education Center

The Roosevelt Legacy moves into the 21st century on Saturday, November 15, 2003 at 2:30 PM with the opening of the Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Education Center in Hyde Park, New York. Archivist of the United States John Carlin will formally dedicate the new Wallace Center and Doris Kearns Goodwin , Pulitzer Prize winning author, historian, and frequent television commentator, will deliver the keynote address. Ms. Goodwin will speak on leadership. The West Point Glee Club will perform during the dedication. The ceremony is free and open to the public.

The Center is a public-private project designed to serve students, teachers, and the visiting public at the Roosevelt Presidential Library and the sites administered by the National Park Service in Hyde Park - the Roosevelt Home, Eleanor Roosevelt's cottage (Val-Kill), FDR's Retirement Retreat, Top Cottage, and Vanderbilt Mansion.

The Center's magnificent architecture, first class visitor facilities, bold new exhibits, and a state-of- the-art High Definition orientation video will provide a totally new experience for our visitors.

Named in honor of the man who served as Secretary of Agriculture (1933-1940) and Vice-President during Franklin Roosevelt's third term, the Henry A. Wallace Center will offer visitors an array of new and expanded services designed to enhance their experiences in Hyde Park. For the more than 125,000 visitors to the Roosevelt Library and National Historic Site, the Center will provide for the first time a comprehensive introduction to the historic complex of Roosevelt properties. Facilities will include orientation exhibits and a new High Definition film called "A Rendezvous with History: The Roosevelts of Hyde Park" to welcome the public to the "world of the Roosevelts." In addition to their introduction to the Library and Home, visitors will also be able to buy tickets and receive information about Val-Kill and Top Cottage. The new building will also offer multipurpose rooms designed for conferences, school groups, and special programs; a café; state-of-the-art audio-visual facilities; an auditorium and a new museum store. The architectural design, created by the New York firm of Kliment and Halsband, is based upon the simple lines of early Dutch Buildings in the Hudson River Valley. FDR loved that style of architecture and designed his Presidential Library to reflect colonial Dutch influence.

The Wallace Center will be operated by the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, in an innovative partnership with the National Park Service. The private non-profit Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute (FERI) has been instrumental in raising private support for both the Wallace Center and Top Cottage which opened to the public in 2001. FERI will host an ambitious program of national and international scholarly conferences and public policy activities in the new Center. Federal funding for the project has been provided through both the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the National Park Service, with each agency securing $8 million in congressional appropriations. The Roosevelt Library and Museum is one of NARA's eleven presidential libraries. The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute raised $4 million for the construction.

These are exciting times in Hyde Park. They are also historic times. For the dedication of the Henry A. Wallace Center allows us to continue in the 21st century Roosevelt's own vision for vital educational historical institutions dedicated to giving Americans the tools they need to govern a democracy.

Along with construction of the Wallace Center, the original Library building is being renovated to create a new 3,000 square foot special exhibit gallery. That gallery will be named for long-time president and chairman of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, William J. vanden Heuvel. The Vanden Heuvel Gallery will feature a schedule of exciting exhibitions drawn from public and private collections worldwide as well as traveling exhibits from the nation's top museums. The first exhibition, will be drawn from the Museum's varied collection and will include the story of how the Roosevelt Library came to be.

The building dedication will take place Saturday, November 15 at 2:30 PM. Hosted by the Archivist of the United States, former Governor of Kansas, John Carlin, top officials from the National Park Service and leaders from the Roosevelt Institute, Home and Library will join the Roosevelt and Wallace families-and the general public-in dedicating this new facility to its high purposes. As the first new structure to be added to the Roosevelt estate since construction of the Roosevelt Library in 1941, those gathered will recall FDR's original Dedication Speech:

"The dedication of a Library is in itself an act of faith. To bring together the records of the past and . . . preserve them for the use of men and women living in the future, a nation must believe in three things. It must believe in the past. It must believe in the future. It must, above all, believe in the capacity of its people so to learn from the past that they can gain in judgement for the creation of the future."

The ceremony will close with a remembrance of the President and Mrs. Roosevelt in the Rose Garden. For more information, please call (845) 486-7745 or 1-800-FDR-VISIT.

As a magnet for heritage tourism and economic development throughout the Hudson Valley, the Wallace Center will make a substantial contribution towards enhancing the region's $600 million tourism industry. Recent studies show that tourists to the Hudson Valley care most deeply about visiting our historic sites and enjoying the bounties of nature. The Wallace Center helps both visitors and the local community enjoy more of Hyde Park's already strong assets in these areas.

Veteran's Day Commemoration: Festivities begin on Veteran's Day, November 11, when a special service in memory of all the United States Veterans will be held in the Rooseelt Rose Garden, where Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt are buried.

Special Events: On successive evenings during Dedication Week, the Presidential Library and National Park Service are sponsoring special events to welcome the community and educators to the new Center. Hudson Valley community leaders will be invited on Wednesday, November 12 to a reception and premiere showing of the Center's new orientation film, A Rendezvous with History . The following evening, the region's educational community of K-12 and college educators is invited to an Open House reception and tour of the Center's new orientation exhibits and classrooms. Educational staff from the Roosevelt Library and Home will showcase their new education programs. Following the Open House, Senator John Culver, author of American Dreamer: A Life of Henry A. Wallace , will deliver a lecture on the Roosevelt-Wallace connection.

Community Open House: Throughout the weekend, Saturday, November 15 through Sunday, November 16, the Roosevelt Presidential Library and the sites administered by the National Park Services -the Roosevelt Home, Eleanor Roosevelt's Val-Kill, and FDR's Top Cottage, will be open to the public free of charge.

The Four Freedoms Celebration: To further honor the occasion, the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute has chosen to hold its annual Four Freedoms dinner and ceremonies in Hyde Park in conjunction with the Dedication of the Henry A. Wallace Center. The first Four Freedoms Medal was presented in 1949 and awards have been made annually ever since. Early recipients included Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., and General George C. Marshall. Since 1982, the Medal Ceremony has alternated every other year between Hyde Park and Middelburg, The Netherlands. Also since that time, five people have been honored at each ceremony-one for each of the Four Freedoms, as well as a fifth medal that is awarded to an individual whose life work truly incorporates all of the Four Freedoms. Nelson Mandela received last year's overall medal. Past recent recipients included Washington Post publisher Katharine Meyer Graham, His Majesty Juan Carlos of Spain, and President Jimmy Carter.

This year's Four Freedoms celebration begins on Friday, evening, November 14, with an opening reception and dinner in honor of the new Center and this year's exceptional laureates. This Four Freedoms ceremony, the first major national event to be held in the Wallace Center, will be held at 10 AM, Saturday, November 15. Highest honors will be given to former Senator George Mitchell , who will receive the overall Four Freedoms Medal for his work in resolving the crisis in Northern Ireland. Awards in honor of each of the Four Freedoms will be offered to four additional distinguished individuals: Studs Terkel , chronicler of the lives of ordinary Americans, will receive the Freedom of Speech and Expression Medal; Father Robert Drinan , outspoken advocate for religious freedom will receive the Freedom of Worship Medal, Senator Robert Byrd will receive the Freedom of Fear Medal, and activist Delores Huerta is the recipient of the Freedom from Want medal.

In past years the Four Freedoms ceremonies attracted 250 selectively invited guests. This year the Four Freedoms Ceremony will be open through ticket sales. The ticket price includes a private luncheon following the ceremony and reserved seating at the Dedication Ceremony, which is open to the public. For tickets to the Four Freedoms Ceremony please call (845) 486-7764. For information about the Wallace Center and the Wallace Center Dedication, please call (845) 486-7745.