Imagery and media
Two lanes
- Contemporary imagery is nature and place: the Badlands, the Little Missouri River, big sky, prairie, wildlife, and the Library itself.
- Historical imagery is Roosevelt: his life, his family and his world.
Don't mix the lanes carelessly. When you layer old and new (which the brand encourages), make the juxtaposition deliberate.
Photography rules
- Real photographs only for the Library, its buildings and its people. Never use the architectural renderings; the building is open.
- Start with the Library's own library. Images in the Library's digital asset library (Acquia DAM) are cleared for Library use. Staff and approved partners request access through Marketing & Communications.
- Otherwise use public-domain or properly licensed images, credited as the source asks, and only with a catalog record you can point to (see below).
- Text over photos: for legibility, place a Night Sky gradient (solid to transparent) behind the text, as in the Library's presentation template.
- When a photo is the main visual, it acts as the background color. Add one grounding or one accent color, not both. See Visual identity.
AI-generated imagery
Allowed only for landscape and wildlife: Badlands, buttes, prairie, bison, wild horses, elk, rivers, canyons. Even then, prefer a real photograph.
Never:
- People, including T.R., his family or anyone historical.
- The Library, the North Dakota State Capitol, Mount Rushmore, Devils Tower, ranch buildings, or any identifiable building or structure. Image models invent architecture with confidence and get it wrong. Add "no buildings, no architecture, no monuments, no structures of any kind" to every prompt.
- Anything presented as a historical photograph or document.
- Illustrations that change the historical character of what they depict.
Historical images and film of Theodore Roosevelt: where to look
Start with the holding institution. Every caption fact (date, place, people, photographer) must match the institution's catalog record. A Wikipedia or Pinterest copy is not a record; use a reverse image search to find the original.
Photographs, prints and documents
| Source | What is there | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs | Thousands of T.R. photographs, prints and cartoons; many with no known restrictions (check each record) | loc.gov/photos |
| Library of Congress, Theodore Roosevelt Papers | The largest body of his papers: letters, diaries, speeches | loc.gov/collections/theodore-roosevelt-papers |
| Harvard, Theodore Roosevelt Collection (Houghton Library) | Thousands of photographs of his public and private life, family and homes; cartoons; ephemera | library.harvard.edu/collections/theodore-roosevelt-collection |
| Theodore Roosevelt Center, Dickinson State University | Digital Library of digitized T.R. material drawn from many collections, searchable in one place | theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library |
| National Park Service | Sagamore Hill, Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace and Theodore Roosevelt National Park; much NPS-made imagery is public domain | nps.gov/sahi · nps.gov/thrb · nps.gov/thro |
| National Archives Catalog | Federal records, executive documents, photographs | catalog.archives.gov |
| Library of Congress research guide | A map of T.R. material across the Library of Congress | guides.loc.gov/theodore-roosevelt |
| NYPL Digital Collections | Prints, photographs, ephemera | digitalcollections.nypl.org |
| Smithsonian | Objects, specimens from his expeditions, portraits | si.edu/collections |
Film and sound
| Source | What is there | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Library of Congress, Theodore Roosevelt: His Life and Times on Film | 104 motion pictures and four sound recordings; most of the films come from the Theodore Roosevelt Association Collection. Read the collection's rights page before use | loc.gov/collections/theodore-roosevelt-films |
| Library of Congress, audio | Sound recordings of Roosevelt's speeches | loc.gov/audio |
| Library's film collection (Acquia DAM) | Clean masters of T.R. films for Library use, without archive title cards | Request through Marketing & Communications |
Film rules
- Use the highest-resolution copy available.
- Remove every archive-made title card, including archive re-creations of original titles and cards added at later restoration. Keep only what is original to the film.
- Reels that hold several unrelated events are split into separate clips (A, B, C in original reel order). Each clip still cites the parent reel.
- Material from the Theodore Roosevelt Association is credited to the TRA.
- Footage from the Spanish-American War era includes staged and re-enacted scenes. Check what a film actually shows before captioning it.
Identifying who and what is in an image
Treat every identification as a claim. Ask HistorianPanel to check the image and caption before publishing ("Is this caption right?"). It has specialists for photograph identification, film and cartoons, and period-appropriate visuals. See Accuracy and approvals.
Credits
- Credit the holding institution as its rights statement asks (for example "Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division").
- Press photos in social posts carry a credit line:
Photos: Name. - Never crop a credit or watermark out of an image you do not have rights to.