Magazine article

Fritz R. Gordner recalls his August 28, 1960, climb of Devils Tower with his friend Fred Weiss. Gordner details the equipment and techniques used to scale the rock formation, and he describes the ascent and descent of the famous monolith. Gordner’s essay is followed by a piece by Michael F. Moran that lists some of Gordner’s subsequent climbs and describes his involvement with the Theodore Roosevelt Association. Two photographs of Gordner and Weiss atop Devils Tower accompany the essay.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2019

A photograph of Devils Tower National Monument appears on the front cover of this issue while the front and back of a Christmas card from the White House Historical Association appears on the back cover. The card depicts the White House, Santa Claus, and the family of Theodore Roosevelt on Christmas morning.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2018-09-18

Carlos Camargo and Tweed Roosevelt examine misconceptions about Theodore Roosevelt’s childhood struggle with asthma. Camargo and Roosevelt find that Theodore Roosevelt’s asthma was not psychosomatic, and they counter the assertions made by biographer David G. McCullough that Theodore Roosevelt used asthma attacks as a way to avoid church. Camargo and Roosevelt also contend that Theodore Roosevelt’s initiation of a vigorous exercise program did not “cure” his asthma, but they note that Roosevelt believed it did. The authors recognize that Roosevelt’s belief that he had overcome his asthma by pursuing a strenuous life was beneficial to him and important to his worldview.

Six photographs of Theodore Roosevelt, two of the authors, two tables, and three illustrations populate the article.

Nicole E. Goldstein recounts the activities undertaken and speeches given at the fiftieth anniversary celebration of the dedication of the Theodore Roosevelt memorial on Theodore Roosevelt Island on October 29, 2017. Goldstein lists the numerous events, highlighting the efforts of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA), the Friends of Theodore Roosevelt Island, and the President of the D.C. Chapter of the Children of the American Revolution, Thomas Misiano, who designed discovery kits for visitors to the island to educate them about Roosevelt. Goldstein also summarizes her speech as well as those of Alexcy Romero of the National Park Service, historians John Milton Cooper and Clay Jenkinson, and Tweed Roosevelt. Goldstein concludes her report by touting Roosevelt’s conservation record and giving a brief history of Theodore Roosevelt Island.

Ten color photographs supplement the report.

The front cover of this issue features the cover of the March 1916 edition of Scribner’s Magazine which highlights an article by Theodore Roosevelt on bird refuges while a detail from a monument to Roosevelt in Boone, Iowa, sculpted by Vincenzo Miserendino appears on the back cover.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2010-07-11

Char Miller recounts the friendship and working relationship between Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot, and he gives an introduction to a eulogy Pinchot wrote for the Journal of Forestry after Roosevelt’s death in early 1919. In the eulogy, Pinchot discusses the important role that Roosevelt played in establishing the United States Forest Service and in greatly expanding the scope of federally protected forest land.

Three photographs, including two of Pinchot, a 1912 campaign poster supporting Roosevelt, and a page from the Journal of Forestry eulogy supplement the article. The text includes the complete eulogy penned by Pinchot.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Tweed Roosevelt reveals the genesis of his project with Carlos Camargo to study Theodore Roosevelt’s struggle with asthma as a child. Roosevelt writes that he was skeptical of David G. McCullough’s assertion that Roosevelt’s condition was psychosomatic and designed to keep him from attending Sunday church services. Roosevelt and Camargo found that Theodore Roosevelt never shirked church attendance, and they also note that, despite his assertions, Theodore Roosevelt did not cure himself of his asthma by his vigorous exercise regimen and living a strenuous life.

A photograph of Tweed Roosevelt and the front cover of McCullough’s biography, Mornings on Horseback, accompany the essay.

The photographer Xiomáro describes the process of photographing Sagamore Hill National Historic Site while it was being emptied and prepared for a major renovation in 2012. Xiomáro recounts his experience photographing another unit of the National Park Service, and he notes how his photographs taken at Sagamore Hill became the basis for an exhibition in Oyster Bay, New York, and at Harvard University. One photograph accompanies the text which is followed by a photo album of eleven color photographs.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2015

The photographer Xiomáro compares the experience of photographing Sagamore Hill National Historic Site when it was practically empty in early 2012 with returning to the site on July 12, 2015, for its grand reopening. Xiomáro describes the crowds and festivities of that day as well as his fortune at wandering through the historic home on the occasion of its reopening. Three color photographs of the reopening ceremonies supplement the text.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2015

In his material culture of Theodore Roosevelt column, Gregory A. Wynn highlights a rare letter from Roosevelt which has an unusual ending: Roosevelt signs the letter as “Teddy R.” Wynn notes that Roosevelt rarely used this term to refer to himself, noting that less than a dozen such letters exist. Wynn thanks the Theodore Roosevelt Center for helping to identify these letters, and he mentions that he and many other Roosevelt scholars share the aversion to referring to Roosevelt as “Teddy.” Illustrations of the letter and its envelope accompany the text.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2015

Robert Wexelblatt finds the title of Margaret P. Griffin’s The Amazing Bird Collection of Young Mr. Roosevelt “a little misleading” because the book explores more than Theodore Roosevelt’s penchant for studying, shooting, and mounting bird specimens. Wexelblatt quotes extensively from Griffin’s work to demonstrate that the book covers other aspects of Roosevelt’s life as a boy and teenager. Wexelblatt also touches on the audience the book aims for and the experience as a teacher that Griffin brought to her project.

Two photographs of Roosevelt, examples of his bird taxidermy and sketching, and the cover illustration of the book appear in the review.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

William N. Tilchin reviews Ken Burns’s documentary film The Roosevelts: An Intimate History about Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Tilchin examines all seven episodes of the documentary, and he largely praises the latter episodes devoted to the Hyde Park Roosevelts while expressing serious reservations about the first two episodes centered on Theodore Roosevelt. Tilchin criticizes the treatment of Roosevelt’s service prior to and during the Spanish-American War by Burns and by three “talking head” commentators, and he admonishes the film for its coverage of Roosevelt’s presidential diplomacy. Tilchin also faults Burns for failing to recognize the evil nature of Joseph Stalin’s reign over the Soviet Union. Overall, Tilchin finds much to like in the film, but he believes that it will never be seen as “a masterpiece.”

The review is supplemented with twenty-six images over ten pages from the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard University and by three illustrations of the DVD set from the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Serge Ricard studies the attitude of the United States government to arbitration and disarmament proposals put forward by the First and Second Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907. Ricard notes that the United States approved of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, but he stresses that the nation, especially under the administration of Theodore Roosevelt, did not pursue disarmament proposals. Ricard asserts that Roosevelt always favored preparedness over disarmament as the best means to avoid war, and he notes that the United States’ traditional policies of isolationism and non-interference in European affairs made it unlikely the country would embrace international bodies. Ricard notes that Secretary of State Elihu Root managed America’s participation in the Second Hague Peace Conference of 1907.

Six photographs and one illustration accompany the text.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Tweed Roosevelt describes his trip to Brazil to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Colonel Candido Mariano da Silva Rondon who led, with Theodore Roosevelt, the expedition down the River of Doubt in 1914. Roosevelt describes the landscape of the state of Mato Grosso and highlights its largest city Cuiaba. Roosevelt examines the Pantanal, a massive wetland, and its Bororo Indian inhabitants, and he gives a brief overview of Rondon’s career. Roosevelt closes his essay with remarks about some of the Brazilian politicians and guides who accompanied him during his visit.

Two color photographs accompany the essay which is followed by a twelve page album of eighty-four photographs taken by Tweed Roosevelt and Mark Greenberg which chronicles various aspects of the trip.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Louis B. Livingston chronicles the relationship between Theodore Roosevelt and the Marquis de Mores during their time together as cattle ranchers in the Dakota Badlands. Livingston focuses on the controversy as to whether the two seriously contemplated a duel to settle their differences, and he charts their divergent paths once they left the West after the ruin of their ranches. Livingston details de Mores’s obsession with antisemitism which he argues helped precipitate the notorious Dreyfus Affair in France, and he documents Roosevelt’s outspoken opposition to antisemitism during his political career.

Six photographs supplement the article, including two of de Mores and three of Roosevelt during their ranching years. A text box with the mission statement of the Theodore Roosevelt Association appears at the end of the article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Report on the 2014 annual meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) held in New York City. The report covers the events of the weekend, highlighting the various authors and speakers in attendance, and it notes the conferring of four TRA awards, including the annual Bertha B. Rose Award and USS Theodore Roosevelt Junior Officer Leadership Award. The TRA also gave awards to documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and the former Superintendent of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Valerie Naylor.

Eleven color photographs accompany the text which is followed by a fourteen page album of eighty-four color photographs of the meeting venues, speakers, guests, and award winners.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Two views of the master bedroom at Sagamore Hill National Historic Site. The front cover photograph shows the room in February 2012 devoid of much of its decoration as the site was about to undergo a major renovation. The back cover features a photograph of the same room on July 12, 2015 just before the site was reopened to the public.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2015-07-12

Tweed Roosevelt chronicles the history of Theodore Roosevelt Island in the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. Roosevelt traces the history of the island back to Native American inhabitants and notes the island’s swings between use and neglect. Roosevelt also charts efforts to establish a national memorial to Theodore Roosevelt in the nation’s capital and how those efforts finally led to the dedication of a memorial on the island in 1967. Roosevelt concludes the essay by noting how the island has once again fallen victim to neglect, and he proposes that the Theodore Roosevelt Association work with the National Park Service to restore and reinvigorate the island for visitors.

Four photographs and three illustrations supplement the text.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

In his review of A Most Glorious Ride: The Diaries of Theodore Roosevelt, 1877-1886, Duane G. Jundt takes stock of the content of the diaries, highlighting aspects like Theodore Roosevelt’s religious life before and after the death of his parents and first wife. Jundt asserts that the diaries provide glimpses into the evolution and maturation of Roosevelt, and praises the contextual essays penned by the editor Edward P. Kohn, but takes issue with Kohn’s grasp of Roosevelt’s time in the West and his contention that Roosevelt’s life in the eastern seaboard proved more important than his tenure in Dakota and the larger West.

An excerpt from the diaries, three photographs, and the front cover of the book accompany the review. An advertisement for a book about Ronald Reagan by Theodore Roosevelt Association Trustee Gene Kopelson appears on the last page of the review.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Joseph R. Ornig chronicles Theodore Roosevelt’s work as a writer of histories, biographies, natural histories, essays, letters, and journalism. Ornig highlights some of these works, such as Roosevelt’s The Naval War of 1812 and The Winning of the West, by describing Roosevelt’s research, his aims, the books’ reception, and the time it took to complete them. Ornig also examines why Roosevelt wrote so much, citing the need to make money, articulating a reform agenda, and organizing his thoughts, and he notes those who acted as mentors to the literary Roosevelt like Henry Cabot Lodge and Owen Wister. Ornig also notes that Roosevelt assumed the role of mentor to many aspiring writers like the poet Edwin Arlington Robinson.

Eleven illustrations accompany the essay, including three of Roosevelt writing and two examples of his hand writing.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal