On Sunday, January 11, 2026, at 2:00pm, Russ Gifford will present “The Dude in the Dakotas: Teddy Roosevelt, Rancher.” Admission is free, but freewill donations encouraged.

Gifford’s talk will include some amazing indirect ties to Sioux City’s rise in the cattle market, weather on the Great Plains, and how a simple twist of fate changed America’s destiny! He claims it’s, “Kind of a Paul Harvey ‘And now you know the REST of the story!’ type of talk.”

Russ Gifford, Senior Lecturer with Western Iowa Tech’s Institute for Lifelong Learning, delivers tales of American history to audiences in the tri-state region. His two decades of programs have included over 350 unique talks, plus numerous articles, and historical papers. Gifford’s work garnered two teaching awards, and his lectures have been supported by grants from Humanities Iowa, the Kind World Foundation, and others.