Roosevelt Study Center Information

The RIAS is a graduate school, library, research and conference center for the study of US history and transatlantic relations in the modern era. Since 2017 it is strategically partnered with Leiden Univeristy. The Institute’s profile is framed around the idea of the Rooseveltian Century. This focuses on the progressive leadership of the three Roosevelts – Theodore, Eleanor, and Franklin – and how their legacies have shaped the United States and its relations with the rest of the world. The RIAS has both academic and public functions. Academically it functions as a graduate school, including training for PhD candidates in modern US history; it regularly organises conferences and seminars; and hosts hosts and facilitates research visits by individual scholars and groups of students. As a public institution the RIAS also provides public lectures on contemporary topics in US politics; support for high schools on US-related topics; and it responds to enquiries from the media and the general public on US-related topics. The RIAS is primarily subsidized by the Province of Zeeland and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. It is located in the Abbey of Middelburg, a former monastry dating back to the 12th century, which also houses the main administrative buildings of the Province of Zeeland.