Your TR Source
Fritz R. Gordner was introduced to presidential collecting as a child. Fritz and a friend went down to Indianapolis campaign headquarters and passed out buttons for Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson. When they got home, they lined all of the buttons up on the rug. That urge to collect has grown into a Theodore Roosevelt collection that includes hundreds of postcards, campaign buttons, banners, and assorted items including a Toby jug, and a Roosevelt bank.
To view items from the collection, please see below.
For more information on Fritz’s collection, please click here to read the full transcript of an interview conducted by Pamela Pierce, digital library coordinator, with him.
This postcard includes a quote from Theodore Roosevelt that contains the wording: “No Nation can hold its place in the world, or can do any work really worth doing, unless it stands ready to guard its rights with an armed hand.” The entire wording is framed in gold with an eagle at the top.
1907-1914
N. Manchester gives advice to John Birch to beware of increasing his “avoir du pois.” He asks that Birch excuse his writing because it was conducted in the dark. The address of Birch is scribbled out with ink of a different color. Manchester writes this message on a postcard with five images of Theodore Roosevelt on the front with the title “Wise Words of Theodore Roosevelt” accompanied with quotes under each image.
1905-06
This postcard features a profile of Theodore Roosevelt with the quote “Fear God And Take Your Own Part” framed in gold with an eagle at the top of the trim.
1907-1914
Postcard depicting a deer standing in a snow covered field and looking toward three trees and the setting sun. Several quotes from Theodore Roosevelt are inscribed on the bottom of the card. Althea Gilkey Dearman sends the card to her husband Charles G. Dearman, noting that she sent a package and hopes he receives it soon.
1923-05-18
This postcard includes portraits of American presidents who served from 1850 until 1904. The card is light green with a darker green trim and published by Moller, Kokeritz, and Company.
1906
This postcard features black and white illustrated portraits and the dates in office of all twenty-five United States presidents through Theodore Roosevelt.
1901-1909
This postcard features black and white illustrated portraits and the dates in office of all twenty-five United States presidents through Theodore Roosevelt.
1901-1909
This black and white postcard features illustrated portraits and the dates in office of all twenty-five United States presidents through Theodore Roosevelt.
1901-1909
This color postcard features illustrated portraits and the dates in office of all twenty-five United States presidents through Theodore Roosevelt. George Washington is featured prominently in the center of the postcard.
1901-1909
This postcard features a color illustration of President Theodore Roosevelt taking the oath of office. The words “THEO. ROOSEVELT TAKING OATH AS PRESIDENT / MARCH 4TH 1905” are printed in white on the postcard, along with 13 white stars against a blue background. Two yellow ribbons contain the words “E PLURIBUS UNUM” printed in red.
1905-03-04
This black and white postcard features portraits of the governors of California from 1859 to 1911. The back of the postcard lists their names and dates in office.
1911
This color postcard features text from the proclamation issued by President Roosevelt announcing the celebration of the Jamestown Ter-centennial Exposition in 1907. The postcard also features portraits of Roosevelt and six other politicians involved with the event.
1905-03-29
“This day in history” style postcard for Wednesday September 14, 1910. Postcard features a black, white, and yellow illustration of President Roosevelt taking the oath of office. Accompanying text reads “President McKinley died and Vice-President Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office as chief executive nine years ago today.”
1910-07-19
Postcard featuring a black and white cartoon image of President Roosevelt and a teddy bear, with the White House and Washington Monument in the background.
1907
Postcard with a black and white photograph of President Roosevelt positioned in front of a framed colorized picture of the United States Capitol. On the reverse of the postcard, the sender informs her sister, Olive, that she will write soon.
1907-09-01
Sepia-tone postcard with oval portraits of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and George Washington in the foreground and two American flags behind. The unknown sender writes that they have found accommodations at Vanderbilt House.
1912-09-05
This postcard features a color illustration of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., an American flag, the seal of the United States, and a portrait of President Roosevelt.
1901-1909
Postcard depicting Colonel Roosevelt and General Wood reviewing a parade.
1907-1914