FDR Hyde Park Foundation

09/20/2026

Almost as if the Roosevelt family have just stepped away for the day... The chairs are waiting, the newspaper is still on the table, and through the picture window, the first signs of fall are beginning to appear. Come experience a place where the past still feels close.

🗓 Tours of the Roosevelt Cottage will continue daily 10:15 a.m.- 5:30 pm (AT) until Saturday, October 17th, 2026.

📍 Roosevelt Cottage, Roosevelt Campobello International Park, Campobello Island, NB.

09/11/2026

SEE IT NOW!
Special Exhibition Highlight:

Thomas Paine
"Common Sense"
octavo (in later wrappers)
New York: Anderson, 1776

Thomas Paine’s Common Sense was the most popular printed work of the American Revolution. Its genius was its accessible language and the force of its three core arguments for full independence, the rejection of the monarchy, and the establishment of a democratic republic. Because Paine waived his copyright, multiple colonies were able to rapidly reprint the text. Displayed in the exhibition are two important versions of the work: a Philadelphia edition by his first printer and this uncommon New York edition that appeared a few weeks later.

Photograph by Vincent Dilio. Courtesy of David M. Rubenstein.

Special Exhibition:
DECLARING THE REVOLUTION:
AMERICA’S PRINTED
PATH TO INDEPENDENCE
Historical Works from the
David M. Rubenstein Americana Collection

LEARN MORE: https://www.fdrlibrary.org/exhibitions

09/06/2026

Our events for the rest of the year, we hope to see you there!

09/03/2026

https://www.facebook.com/reel/998772983173221

09/01/2026

During the 1930s and 1940s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered "Fireside Chats" from the White House, translating complex political and economic issues into clear, conversational language to calm anxious Americans as the nation emerged from the Great Depression and eventually entered the Second World War. After his second address in 1933, broadcaster Harold Butcher coined the term “Fireside Chat” to capture the warmth and informality that characterized the president’s demeanor.

Ironically, the room Roosevelt chose as the setting for his radio broadcasts – the Diplomatic Reception Room – lacked a functioning fireplace. After serving as a furnace room in the 19th century, it was converted into a formal reception space in 1902 during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency—but its fireplace was merely decorative. FDR chose the room for its intimate, comfortable setting, and after the name “Fireside Chat” caught on, Roosevelt ordered White House staff to open the chimney in 1935 in order to deliver his speeches next to a real fire.

The addition of the functioning fireplace illustrates how the White House has adapted alongside the presidency itself. Even a seemingly small architectural change in the People’s House tells the story of a broad transformation in how presidents communicated with the American people during the twentieth century.

Credit: National Archives/Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library

08/28/2026

08/24/2026

While our current First Lady remains absent from public life — let me remind you what Eleanor Roosevelt did…

After her husband, FDR, contracted polio in 1921 and was paralyzed, Eleanor traveled extensively across the country and the world as his "eyes, ears, and legs.”

That work only intensified when they moved into the White House in 1933.

Because FDR was bound to a wheelchair and physically unable to tour places himself, Eleanor stepped in.

✅ During the Great Depression, she traveled tens of thousands of miles to inspect coal mines, visit rural farms, and observe the impact of New Deal programs.

✅ During World War II, she traveled to battlefields, military hospitals, and overseas outposts to check on troops and secure fair treatment for soldiers.

✅ And she provided FDR with detailed, firsthand accounts and unfiltered feedback about the hardships ordinary Americans were facing.

Eleanor accomplished more than any other First Lady, and arguably some presidents, too!