Carleton Connects: Pete Cowdin ’85 and bringing books to life

There’s nothing quite like it. The Rabbit hOle, a new immersive museum experience in Kansas City dedicated to children’s literature, is the singular brainchild of Pete Cowdin ’85 and his partner Deb Pettid. Join Pete for a discussion around literature and the arts, community building, nonprofit business models, and the changing shape of reading. Pete Cowdin ’85 is the co-founder and director of The Rabbit hOle (featured in the New York Times and listed by TIME in 2024 among the World's Greatest Places) and the former co-owner of the Kansas City bookstore Reading Reptile. After closing their bookstore in 2015, Cowdin and Pettid spent the next nine years developing, designing, and raising money for the museum, which opened its doors to the public for the first time on March 12, 2024. A $15 million capital project located in North Kansas City’s industrial district, The Rabbit hOle currently includes more than 40,000 square feet of exhibit space, a full-service bookstore, a maker space, a letterpress print shop and story lab, and a cafe. In addition to the museum itself, Cowdin and Pettid oversee a 22,000-square-foot fabrication facility on the back of the building where all of the exhibits for the museum are created on site by 20+ full-time artists and designers. In his free time, Cowdin likes to sit down.