American Museum of Natural History

Edward William Nelson thanks Theodore Roosevelt for his letter and the copy of the Outlook, which included his review of Charles Sheldon’s book. He agrees that Sheldon should continue to work as a naturalist. Naturalist C. Hart Merriam expects to publish his book on bears and continue doing mammal work. Nelson would be pleased to visit Roosevelt during his upcoming visit to New York. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-09

Henry Fairfield Osborn, president of the American Museum of Natural History, reminds Theodore Roosevelt of his desire to display a portrait of his father and founder of the museum, Theodore Roosevelt, at the institution. He asks if there is a portrait that the museum could copy for this purpose. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-06

Frank M. Chapman shares his congratulations with Theodore Roosevelt over Kermit Roosevelt’s successful expedition. Chapman also invites Roosevelt to visit the museum and have lunch with him whenever it is convenient for him.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-05

Frederic A. Lucas, Director of the American Museum of Natural History, asks which year the birds Theodore Roosevelt donated were mounted. He is sorry that one of the cases was not donated to the Children’s Museum in Brooklyn.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-25

On behalf of the American Museum of Natural History, Henry Fairfield Osborn thanks Theodore Roosevelt for donating a snowy owl, and for his support of the institution.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-06-14

Harry Fairfield Osborn notifies Theodore Roosevelt that he will be delighted to see him at the American Museum of Natural History, and he is also looking forward to having lunch with Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-06-12

William T. Hornaday is pleased to hear institutions in the United States will receive three new rhinoceros specimens. Hornaday assures Theodore Roosevelt that the Camp Fire Club dinner will be carried out according to his wishes. Hornaday strongly objected to William J. Long’s presence at a dinner. The campaign to protect the fur-seal fisheries of Alaska has been successful, and Hornaday hopes the bill will pass before the end of April.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1910-03-24

Carl Ethan Akeley tells President Roosevelt that he has sent him a model of an elephant head instead of sending drawings and photographs as he had previously promised. Akeley has also made Roosevelt a camp table that he would like to send him, and asks where he can send it. Akeley plans to write to Roosevelt again in a few days about his trip to British East Africa and the elephant group for the American Museum of Natural History.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-02-26

Edgar Alexander Mearns agrees to Theodore Roosevelt’s publication stipulations on the Africa expedition. Roosevelt’s publications must come first. In order to complete early preparations for the trip, Mearns requests an official order from the War Department outlining his duties. Mearns suggests other members of the American Museum staff who might be good candidates for the expedition. Mearns also asks Roosevelt whether he should make plans for the “systematic treatment of natives outside of your own party.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-08-04

Frank M. Chapman sends President Roosevelt a book of photographs that Herbert Lang took in the region of British East Africa that Roosevelt is planning to visit on his safari. Chapman says that Lang, in addition to being a skilled photographer, is also well-trained in field taxidermy, and says that if Roosevelt would like to add him to his staff, the American Museum of Natural History would be glad to detail Lang to assist.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-07-03

Cyrus Adler, acting secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, would prefer if the final decision of who is to accompany President Roosevelt on his safari could be delayed until fall when Charles D. Walcott, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, will be back from the field and could confer directly with Roosevelt. Adler suggests that Roosevelt consider taking Edgar Alexander Mearns as a naturalist who is also trained in medicine, and mentions Edmund Heller as someone to consider for the role of taxidermist. Adler does not presently think the arrangement suggested by Frank M. Chapman is a good one.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-07-09

Frank M. Chapman thanks President Roosevelt for agreeing to view some of his photographic field work. He plans to travel to Gardiners Island soon to make a movie of birds. Chapman wishes that Kermit Roosevelt would be able to come to the American Museum of Natural History sometime in the summer to look at the various cameras and practice with them. He also says that if this is possible, he could arrange a meeting with a taxidermist who recently returned from British East Africa who could give Kermit many tips. Chapman agrees with Roosevelt on some confusion regarding some conventions of zoological classification.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-06-09

Chronology of the daily life of Theodore Roosevelt from October 1858 to December 1870. Notable events include the Roosevelt family’s involvement in the American Civil War, Theodore Roosevelt meeting John Hay as a child, and the Roosevelt family’s first European trip.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association

Creation Date

1985

Chronology of the daily life of Theodore Roosevelt from January 1871 to December 1878. Notable events include the Roosevelt family’s trip to Europe and Egypt, Roosevelt’s entrance to Harvard, the death of Theodore “Thee” Roosevelt, Roosevelt’s trip to Maine, and Roosevelt meeting Alice Hathaway Lee.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association

Creation Date

1985

President Franklin D. Roosevelt is filmed speaking to a crowd from a podium at the American Museum of Natural History. Archival footage shows construction of the Panama Canal, Theodore Roosevelt delivering speeches, and his hunting expedition in Africa.

Collection

Sherman Grinberg Film Collection

Creation Date

1936-01-19

President Franklin D. Roosevelt is introduced to a crowd which rises and applauds for him, and he begins to speak about Theodore Roosevelt.

Collection

Sherman Grinberg Film Collection

Creation Date

1936-01-19

Gregory A. Wynn interviews the author of Theodore Roosevelt’s Ghost, Michael Patrick Cullinane. Cullinane describes his book as a work of historiography, and he addresses issues such as the efforts to memorialize Theodore Roosevelt that failed in the immediate years after his death. Cullinane also touches on the evolving reputation of American presidents, and he highlights the importance of the work of historians Henry F. Pringle and Elting Elmore Morison. Cullinane recommends that the Theodore Roosevelt Association continue to spend money on projects that further research on Roosevelt. A photograph of Wynn, Cullinane, and Tweed Roosevelt accompanies the text of the interview.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2018

A. Richard Boera tells the story of Fulop Laszlo’s portrait of President Theodore Roosevelt which was painted at the White House in March 1908. Most of Boera’s text comes from a biography of Laszlo published in 1939, and it includes long passages from Laszlo describing his interactions with Roosevelt, sketching a portrait of Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, and vignettes of life at the White House. Boera’s article in its text and its endnotes also discusses the 1903 John Singer Sargent portrait of Roosevelt.

Four color portraits painted by Laszlo, including those of the president and the first lady, appear in the text.

In his review of Darrin Lunde’s The Naturalist: Theodore Roosevelt, a Lifetime of Exploration, and the Triumph of American Natural History, Lowell E. Baier identifies the two theses that animate the book: that Theodore Roosevelt was a world class museum naturalist and that he was the most important conservationist of his time. Baier provides context for and discusses many of Roosevelt’s encounters with the natural world, and he lists many of the explorers, writers, conservationists, and fellow hunters who shaped his thoughts and actions. Baier praises Lunde for placing Roosevelt’s hunting in the context of his times and for acknowledging that Roosevelt hunted for both sport and science, but he faults Lunde for not recognizing the adrenaline rush of hunting and for not treating Roosevelt’s conservation record as president in greater detail.

The front cover of Lunde’s book, two photographs, and three paintings by John Seerey-Lester populate the review.

A. Richard Boera continues his look at the portraits of Theodore Roosevelt painted by Fulop Laszlo. In this second installment, Boera traces the provenance of and locates the original 1908 portrait and five copies. Boera identifies the three artists who made copies of the portrait, and he notes the location of each. Boera also discusses a lesser known Lazlo portrait of Roosevelt executed in 1910, and he notes the other portraits Laszlo painted of Roosevelt family members such Kermit Roosevelt.

A Laszlo painting, a collage of some of his portraits, and two photographs supplement the text.