KU News Release

Dole Institute to offer tour of archive in Mandarin Chinese

LAWRENCE — The Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas will offer its first “white glove” tour of the Dole Archive in Mandarin Chinese at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 16. Reservations are required for the free tour.

The 40-minute tour will offer visitors an inside look at the process of organizing and preserving Sen. Bob Dole’s papers from his 35-year career in Congress. The tour shows how archivists care for the collection, such as storing the collection in safe environmental conditions and using white cotton gloves when handling photographs. The tour will also include some of the uniquely beautiful Asian artifacts in Dole’s collection, which have been given to him by heads of state and businessmen on his visits to East Asian countries.

The tour will be led by Flora Hsu, who has been a Dole Institute archival volunteer for about a year. Hsu was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and came to the United States in the 1980s. She was formerly a nationally certified tour guide in Taiwan and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in library information management through Emporia State University.

“We hope by providing custom tours such as this we will attract more international visitors to the institute,” said Judy Sweets, photo archivist at the Dole Institute. “In one sense our guests are all ambassadors. They go back to their country and tell what they’ve seen here. There is a ripple effect.”

Another tour of the Dole Archive will be given in English at 10 a.m.

The Dole Institute of Politics is dedicated to promoting public service, civic engagement and politics. The institute is on KU’s west campus next to the Lied Center. Reservations for either tour can be made by calling (785) 864-1420 or (785) 864-1405, or e-mailing bischoff@ku.edu or asweets@ku.edu. More information is available on the Dole Institute’s Web site.

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The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.