Africa

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Anna Roosevelt Cowles

President Roosevelt is pleased with the results of the convention and with how Henry Cabot Lodge performed; however, he is already looking forward to his trip to Africa once he leaves office. Consistent with his approach to life in general, Roosevelt does not want to simply go along for the ride. Rather, he wants it to be a scientific trip. His sons are back in Washington, and Theodore Roosevelt Jr. is happy to be out of school and working.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1908-06-22

Mr. Dawson, American author

Theodore Roosevelt examines the characteristics of the novels of Warrington Dawson, including their unique elements and distinct American setting, which is notable because Dawson’s audience is largely European.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1909-04-22

The sleeping sickness

A large African man is leaning against a tree, asleep. Several European countries are staking claims to portions of Africa, planting flags labeled “England, Portugal, Belgium, Turkey, Italy, Germany, Spain, [and] France” all around the sleeping man. Caption: Cutting a continent out from under him.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-10-25

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to James Sullivan Clark

President Roosevelt thanks James Sullivan Clarkson for the book he received as a gift from him, and his well wishes for his upcoming trip to the Nile. Roosevelt also states that he looks forward to meeting up with Leigh S. J. Hunt during his travels.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1908-09-07

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Anna Roosevelt Cowles

Theodore Roosevelt is on an extended trip in the upper Nile region with his son Kermit Roosevelt. He describes the native people, a variety of wildlife, and the big game and birds they are hunting on safari. Kermit’s health is excellent and Roosevelt is pleased at the quality of his own health during their nine-month excursion in Africa. Recently he received a telegram notifying him that Gifford Pinchot had been dismissed as head of the United States Forest Service, which Roosevelt found surprising. He looks forward to seeing his wife Edith Roosevelt.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1910-01-21

Greetings from Theodore Roosevelt

A postcard containing dried flowers, with Theodore Roosevelt’s African name, Bwana Tumbo, printed across the top.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site

Creation Date

1910

Dee-lighted-!

Statue of Liberty bending to shake Theodore Roosevelt’s upstretched hand from boat in New York Harbor. One in a series of postcards celebrating Roosevelt’s return from his trip to Africa and Europe.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site

Creation Date

1910

Diary of Theodore Roosevelt from January 1 to June 10, 1910

President Roosevelt’s diary, dated January 1 to June 10, 1910, records details of the animals he and his son, Kermit Roosevelt, killed during their African safari. The diary includes sketches of the animals, with dots marking where they were shot; places Roosevelt and Kermit visited; and meetings with European dignitaries.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site

Creation Date

1910

Theodore Roosevelt with an elephant

Photograph of Theodore Roosevelt and his African safari guides, R. J. Cuninghame and Leslie J. Tarlton, posing with a dead bull elephant. Cuninghame stands on top, Roosevelt and Tarlton in front.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site

Creation Date

1909

The Saturday Evening Mail: welcome home

Special issue of the magazine section of the Evening Mail commemorating the return of Theodore Roosevelt from his hunting trip in Africa. Contains pictorial accounts of Roosevelt’s travels, articles by Jacob Riis and others, and excerpts of speeches by Roosevelt.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site

Creation Date

1910-06-18

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Ethel Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt writes his daughter Ethel from his African safari to say everything is going well. Kermit is a constant source of worry because he does not his own limitations. Roosevelt enjoys his pigskin library.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1909-06-24

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Ethel Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt writes his daughter Ethel to say he enjoys her letters and it seems she is getting everything out of her European trip that she ought to. He says he feels bad that he must take first shot at all big game because it is of greater value to the museum for him to get the animal rather than Kermit Roosevelt. Roosevelt says he has grown attached to his companions and native attendants on the safari. He adds that he is in “wonderful country.”

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1909-09-26

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Ethel Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt describes his safari to his daughter Ethel. He praises Kermit Roosevelt’s skills but says he is still too reckless. Roosevelt has become very attached to Edmund Heller, R. J. Cuninghame, and Leslie J. Tarlton. The porters amuse him as well. Roosevelt has read almost all the books in his pigskin library.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1909-11-13

Roosevelt the Man

A poster with four pictures and a timeline of the life of Theodore Roosevelt. Included is a detailed timeline of Roosevelt’s trip to Africa.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1909

Letter from Nicholas Murray Butler to Theodore Roosevelt

Nicholas Murray Butler encloses a letter to President Roosevelt that Leigh Hunt sent from Africa.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-01-12

Letter from Edward North Buxton to Theodore Roosevelt

Edward North Buxton asks Theodore Roosevelt to become an honorary member of Buxton’s new society, an association for the protection of the wild fauna in Africa and other parts of the [British] empire. Roosevelt has already been helpful in the Sudan, as people have learned from him what can be done with a national park.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-12-18

Letter from Bellamy Storer to Theodore Roosevelt

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Austria-Hungary Bellamy Storer informs President Roosevelt of a recent visit by King of the Belgians Léopold II. Storer discusses tensions in the Congo between the British and Belgian governments and European colonization in the Congo, referencing editorials in The Times, the Treaty of Berlin, the French explorer Pierre Savorgnon de Brazza, and rumors of Belgian atrocities in Congo, using Belgian explorer Henry M. Stanley as an exemplar.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-10-22

Letter from Edward Schinck to Theodore Roosevelt

Edward Schnick blames Theodore Roosevelt for the Democrats gaining control of New York and the United States and releases his indignation at Roosevelt and his politics. He complains about the activities of Roosevelt at the 1912 Chicago Republican Convention. He thinks that Roosevelt sold President Taft out on account of his ego. He says that Roosevelt’s return from Africa looked like a “Barnum Circus.” He promises never to vote for Roosevelt again and urges him to retire from the public sphere.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-11-08