“White Glove” tour displays Dole’s college, political life

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

On the lower level of the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, two miles of steel shelving holds more than 4,000 boxes of former Sen. Bob Dole’s political and personal papers, 25,000 photographs and several artifacts.

It is the nation’s largest non-presidential collection of papers and artifacts, said Kristen Low, Dole Institute media communications intern.

Once a month on a Saturday, a “White Glove” tour is available to the public. The 30-minute, behind-the scenes tours are led by senior archivist Morgan Davis or audiovisuals archivist Judy Sweet.

Sweet said one of her favorite parts of the archive was the more than 500 letters written by members of the Dole family, including some from Dole while he was a college student at the University.

“He mostly wrote about his part-time jobs, his fraternity and he complained about the high cost of things,” Sweet said. “He complained about the price of getting his laundry done, so he sent it home for his mother to do it for him, which was very common in those days.”

Bill Lacy, director of the Dole Institute, said one of his favorite artifacts on display was the podium Dole used to practice for his presidential debates with former President Bill Clinton. He said it had personal significance because Dole’s practice sparring partner was former Sen. Fred Thompson, who Lacy worked for earlier this year on Thompson’s 2008 presidential campaign.

“Most students have family visit them while they’re here in college and bringing them to the archives is something they could do that is really quite interesting and educational,” Lacy said.

Lacy said students can get more involved with the archives by volunteering, interning or by just taking the tour.

Lauren Takemoto, Lawrence graduate student of museum studies, works at the Dole Institute as a summer archive intern.

“I thought it would be a good opportunity to get some hands-on experience,” Takemoto said. “Not all institutes have as much funding and opportunities as the Dole Institute does, so I’ve really enjoyed the variety of things I’ve worked on here.”

The “White Glove” tour is free, but reservations are recommended because the tour group size is typically no more than 20 people. The next tours are scheduled for July 26 at 11 a.m. and Aug. 16 at 10:30 a.m. For more information on the tour and archives visit www.doleinstitute.org or for a tour reservation call Judy Sweet at (785) 864-1420.

— Edited by Kristin Hoppa

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