Wister, Owen, 1860-1938

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1910-1919

Creator(s)

Wister, Owen, 1860-1938

Recipient

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1910-1919

Creator(s)

Wister, Owen, 1860-1938

Recipient

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1910-1919

Creator(s)

Wister, Owen, 1860-1938

Recipient

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Owen Wister encloses a letter from his friend, who wishes that President Roosevelt would write a biography of Abraham Lincoln. Wister knows that he cannot persuade Roosevelt to do anything he does not have time for, but assures him that if he undertook the project he would have at least one reader.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908

A publication of the address by Owen Wister, graduate of Harvard University class of 1882, originally delivered at the award of academic distinctions. Wister discusses the importance of developing scholarship in the United States and gives examples of fine American ingenuity. He exhorts the assembled students at Harvard to become well-versed in a variety of fields.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-12-23

Owen Wister notes that he has not seen President Roosevelt since 1907 and proposes to visit him in the upcoming weeks. Wister would like to talk about what Roosevelt has accomplished, discuss possible short biographies he hopes to write, and speak with Roosevelt undisturbed by callers and distractions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-06

Owen Wister relates a deleted passage about former Secretary of State Elihu Root from his Scribners article regarding Theodore Roosevelt’s second presidential administration. 

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1913-1914

Owen Wister encloses a letter for President Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-06-16

Dried flowers picked from Quentin Roosevelt’s grave, sent in a letter from Owen Wister to Edith Roosevelt

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1921-04-04

Owen Wister writes to Edith Roosevelt and encloses flowers that he picked from Quentin Roosevelt’s grave. In the letter he describes sunlight, bird songs, and the blossoms by the grave. Envelope included.

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1921-04-04

Owen Wister remarks how Ethel Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt’s kind letters tempt Wister into traveling to Sagamore Hill the next time he is able. Wister is planning a trip to Wyoming, though is delayed due to an emergency on the part of his attendant. He discusses the “books of length” he plans to take on his journey, including A Pluralistic Universe by William James that explores the work of Henri Bergson. He also suggests From Kant to Nietzsche by Jules de Gaultier. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-05-27

Owen Wister has enclosed a letter from Eva M. Bicknell, a fan of Theodore Roosevelt’s from Lincoln, England. Wister misses Roosevelt and his wife, Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, and hopes this illness will pass soon so that they might get together. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-05-20

Owen Wister sends President Roosevelt a note of “good luck and God speed” as he departs the presidency.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-03-02

Owen Wister regrets that he is still laid up.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-18

Owen Wister asks President Roosevelt to wait to appoint the “lay” member of the Mint Assay Commission because he has someone “honorable, eminent, and apt” to suggest for the role.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-12

Owen Wister told his children that they were going to have lunch with President Roosevelt, and his eldest daughter said that “she felt as if she could jump to the ceiling.” Wister tells Roosevelt that after he returns from Africa, he will have to come visit Wister and enjoy his hospitality.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-31

Owen Wister asks President Roosevelt if it would be possible for him and his wife, Mary Channing Wister, to visit the White House with their children at some point so that their children will have those memories of seeing the Roosevelts there. Wister plans to travel to England in mid-January, but will postpone those plans if necessary. He also sends Roosevelt a poem about Abraham Lincoln for him to read. Wister knows the author, but having read the poem can “praise only its intention and a few lyric passages.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-28

Owen Wister thanks President Roosevelt for obtaining the definitive answer that Princess Sofia Grigorievna Kropotkina would not be allowed entry into the United States. The point of the inquiry was not to determine whether it was desirable for her to come, but rather to save her from having to cross the ocean to find she could not land. He is still waiting for the book that he wants to send, an epic poem about Abraham Lincoln.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-12

Owen Wister encloses papers from University of Pennsylvania Professor Morris Jastrow. Jastrow would like Russian princess Alexandra Kropotkin to be told before she sails for America whether she will be allowed into the country. Wister also brings the Reverend William R. Scott, a former Pennsylvania football team substitute, to President Roosevelt’s attention. Scott would like to be made a chaplain so that he can preach to soldiers and men. Although Wister has made it a rule not to ask Roosevelt for political appointments, he points out that a chaplaincy is not a political appointment. Roosevelt’s birthday gift is delayed by the publisher, but Wister will send it on when it is out. Wister is pleased with the election results, especially because William H. Taft will be able to appoint Supreme Court Justices.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-04

In a handwritten note, Owen Wister tells President Roosevelt that this is a text he has written for a paper, and he believes Roosevelt will agree with him. The text describes men who fail to vote as “sexless citizen[s]” who should be fined or punished by law and calls for a list of men who failed to vote to be published along with their property values.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-15