Your TR Source
Founded in 1791, the Massachusetts Historical Society celebrates history as “not just a series of events that happened to individuals long ago but … integral to the fabric of our daily lives.” The MHS is noted for its holdings of personal papers related to John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and Thomas Jefferson.
Theodore Roosevelt related items in this collection include photos of Roosevelt speaking at his inauguration, TR in his frontiersman attire, as well as a signed photograph given from Roosevelt to his close friend and confidant Henry Cabot Lodge. Letters from TR to Lodge are also included. Other correspondence highlights are Roosevelt writing to members of the Saltonstall family and a letter from Roosevelt to Mary Bowditch Forbes commenting on pacifist women.
Please see below to view items from the collection.
Theodore Roosevelt writes to George von Lengerke Meyer that he unfortunately needs to leave for the Overseers’ meeting on December 12, and will return on December 14. He wishes Meyer could be on those trains, but guesses it is not possible.
Massachusetts Historical Society
1911-11-24
Theodore Roosevelt greatly appreciates the telegram sent by George von Lengerke Meyer and his wife. Roosevelt hopes to see Meyer next Tuesday.
Massachusetts Historical Society
1911-12-05
Theodore Roosevelt assures George von Lengerke Meyer that he has already attended to a task. Roosevelt thinks Meyer will be satisfied with the editorial, which comes out next week. (The date stamped on the letter is incorrect.)
Massachusetts Historical Society
1912-02-02
Theodore Roosevelt has received George von Lengerke Meyer’s report and was very interested in it. Roosevelt mentions that Corinne Roosevelt Robinson enjoyed “catching a glimpse” of Meyer and that Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt is feeling much better.
Massachusetts Historical Society
1912-02-02
Theodore Roosevelt is unable to use his right arm for writing, so all of his letters will be signed in his name by his secretary.
Massachusetts Historical Society
1912
Theodore Roosevelt thanks George von Lengerke Meyer for his telegram.
Massachusetts Historical Society
1912-10-31
Theodore Roosevelt thanks George von Lengerke Meyer for the salmon and for what he said regarding the libel suit. Roosevelt would like to arrange a visit with Meyer and Frank B. Kellogg, but does not see what can be done about “getting the Republicans and Progressives together.” Roosevelt feels that the Progressives are “sundered” from the Republican Party by two causes. The first is the “utter dishonesty” of men such as Boies Penrose, William Barnes, Winthrop Murray Crane, Elihu Root, and their associates who “stole the convention” last summer. The second cause is that the Progressive Party, unlike the Republican Party, have in their platform “applied the principles of Abraham Lincoln to the present day.” Roosevelt will never again work with a party controlled by the men guilty of the theft last June or with any party that “does not take in their entirety the principles of Abraham Lincoln applied to the needs of the present day.”
Massachusetts Historical Society
1913-06-09
Theodore Roosevelt tells George von Lengerke Meyer he is not sure there is anything to be done to make things better in politics. Roosevelt believes Republican leaders “stole the nomination” in Chicago, Illinois, and that such action “creates a train of evil consequences so extensive that it is almost impossible by any single act afterwards to undo the evil.” It was extraordinary to see men such as Bishop William Lawrence and President A. Lawrence Lowell of Harvard University “explicitly or implicitly, endorse the lowest forms of political immorality.” Roosevelt compares the Progressive platform to that of Abraham Lincoln and the early Republicans, and accuses the men who object to these principles of being the “spiritual heirs of the Cotton Whigs.” He believes that what happened in Chicago makes it likely that Woodrow Wilson and the Democratic Party will win the fall presidential election. When Roosevelt returns, he would like for Meyer and Frank B. Kellogg to visit him.
Massachusetts Historical Society
1913-10-07
Theodore Roosevelt is immensely pleased and interested in George von Lengerke Meyer’s letter and speech. Before receiving Meyer’s letter, Roosevelt had written an article for the Sunday newspaper in which he agrees almost word for word with Meyer’s view and mentions specifically the “fine condition” of the Navy under Meyer’s administration. Roosevelt invites Meyer and his wife to come visit if they are ever in New York.
Massachusetts Historical Society
1914-11-24
President Roosevelt encloses a letter and tells Senator Lodge he does not believe the writer is fit for diplomatic service.
Massachusetts Historical Society
1902-03-14
President Roosevelt tells Senator Lodge that Winthrop Murray Crane, Governor of Massachusetts, is visiting and asks if Lodge and his wife, Anna Cabot Mills Davis Lodge, will join them for dinner. Roosevelt asks Lodge if he would care to take a walk this afternoon, as there are matters he would like to discuss with him.
Massachusetts Historical Society
1902-05
President Roosevelt tells Senator Lodge that he is having dinner with Eugene F. Ware, the new Pension Commissioner, and asks Lodge if he would be able to join them.
Massachusetts Historical Society
1902-05-07
President Roosevelt tells Senator Lodge his speech was admirable, although he has not had the chance to read it in the Congressional Record yet, and writes that Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna was delighted with it, too.
Massachusetts Historical Society
1902-05-07
President Roosevelt encloses an interesting letter from Judge John Carter Rose and asks Senator Lodge to show it to Senator Nelson W. Aldrich of Rhode Island before returning it.
Massachusetts Historical Society
1902-05-28
President Roosevelt is glad that Senator Lodge and his wife, Anna Cabot Lodge, enjoyed the speech. Roosevelt will call on Lodge by horseback at about 4:15 unless he hears otherwise.
Massachusetts Historical Society
1902-05-30
President Roosevelt received Senator Lodge’s letter and has already sent a letter to McDonald, likely referring to William Jesse McDonald. He also encloses his letter to Secretary of War Elihu Root. He informs Lodge that Governor Brodie of Arizona appointed Ben Daniels as the warden of the Arizona Penitentiary, both men former Rough Riders. When Roosevelt told John Hay of that fact, Hay responded, “Set a Rough Rider to catch a thief!”
Massachusetts Historical Society
1902-06-04
President Roosevelt congratulates Senator Lodge on the birth of his grandson, Henry Cabot Lodge, and is glad that Lodge’s daughter-in-law Bessie is in good health. Roosevelt lays out the cases both in favor of, and against, Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes as a Supreme Court Justice. Roosevelt is concerned about Holmes’s speech about former Chief Justice John Marshall and hopes that Holmes understands that Supreme Court justices should be neither partisan nor politicians. Roosevelt has been happy with the majority of the Supreme Court but is concerned with the “reactionary folly” of the minority. Roosevelt wants to ensure that the replacement for Justice Gray upholds his legacy.
Massachusetts Historical Society
1902-07-10
President Roosevelt met with Oliver Wendell Holmes and is satisfied with him as a United States Supreme Court nominee. Roosevelt wrote to Senator George Frisbie Hoar to inform him of Holmes’s selection, and asks Senator Lodge to also contact Hoar.
Massachusetts Historical Society
1902-07-25
President Roosevelt hopes that Senator George Frisbie Hoar will be reasonable, but he will submit Oliver Wendell Holmes’s nomination to the United States Supreme Court regardless. Roosevelt is speaking in Providence, Rhode Island, on August 23, and then will go down to Newport, Rhode Island, so they can christen the baby (Lodge’s infant grandson who shared his name). He will also spend Monday with the Lodges in Nahant, Massachusetts, but Edith Roosevelt will not be able to attend.
Massachusetts Historical Society
1902-07-29
President Roosevelt encloses Senator George Frisbie Hoar’s letter. Roosevelt has asked Hoar to let him know if there is anything against Oliver Wendell Holmes or any reason why anyone else should be named to the United States Supreme Court. Roosevelt is choosing to ignore the “foolish letter” of Carl Schurz, Charles Francis Adams, and Herbert Welsh, but would like to make anti-imperialism a major issue in the congressional campaigns, because it gives the Republicans an advantage over the Democrats. In a handwritten postscript, Roosevelt notes that there has been a “ferocious Catholic” outbreak against William H. Taft, Governor-General of the Philippines, on behalf of the friars.
Massachusetts Historical Society
1902-07-30