On May 21, 2025, a new permanent exhibit, titled “First Things First: FDR, Disability, & Access,” formally opened in the Springwood Garage-Stables at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Historic Site (HOFR) in Hyde Park, New York.
There are many National Park Service (NPS) sites with important disability stories. Still, the Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site is the strongest, which is central to its interpretive programming. In 2023, HOFR accepted funds to host Shelby Landmark, PhD as a Disability Representation at Historic Sites research fellow. In her first year of this work, she realized there is a great irony in how we remember FDR and that most people get it wrong.
While FDR is one of the most recognizably disabled historical figures, his disability is commonly represented in ways that imply he hid the truth of his paralysis from the public after contracting polio in the summer of 1921. He was thirty-nine years old.
However, Dr. Landmark’s research has revealed that the public frequently observed FDR using leg braces, crutches, canes, and even automobiles to navigate his surroundings. Using these groundbreaking findings, the NPS is reframing the narrative in this new exhibit, demonstrating how FDR challenged public perceptions and may have altered the way Americans understood the meaning of disability.
The exhibit features never-before-published images of FDR and his use of mobility aids, as well as diagrams for the construction of these devices, unearthed from the Secret Service archival files at the FDR Presidential Library. A pair of his shoes is also on display, which were customized to be connected to his leg braces.
One of his canes is also on display, and the pièce de résistance is a scaled, tactile model of one of FDR’s customized wheelchairs. With these images and objects that highlight not only his disability but also its very public nature, it is hoped visitors will gain a more complete and nuanced understanding of FDR’s disability. The exhibit is free to the public.
Click on any image to enlarge.
A keynote presentation by Dr. Landmark took place on the day of the exhibit opening at the Henry A. Wallace Theater, followed by a public reception at the exhibit itself. You can watch this presentation below.
Location: 4079 Albany Post Rd, Hyde Park, NY 12538
Dr. Landmark’s keynote speech at the Henry A. Wallace Theater (35 mins).
