Your TR Source
President Roosevelt greatly appreciates District Attorney Stimson’s letter. While Roosevelt finds parts of naturalist William J. Long’s book charming, on the whole, he remarks on “what a shame it is that a man who has that charming touch should spoil it by writing such utter nonsense.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-14
President Roosevelt is greatly interested in the symposium Edward William Nelson has organized to discuss “nature fakers.” He invites Nelson, C. Hart Merriam, and Vernon Bailey to lunch to discuss the matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-05
John Burroughs thanks President Roosevelt for his suggestions and writes about his Cosmopolitan article on animal intelligence. He also discusses his dislike of William J. Long’s depictions of animals.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-06-09
John Burroughs responds to President Roosevelt’s letter regarding Burroughs’s Atlantic Monthly article. He admits to “hasty streaks” and comments on specific issues involving the tameness of birds and animals on uninhabited islands and the instinctive and learned fears among animals. He hopes to accompany Roosevelt to Yellowstone in the spring.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-03-10
President Roosevelt tells William P. Epperson that he has known of several instances of chipmunks hibernating, but of course there may be instances where they do not.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-01
President Roosevelt is interested in what Hervie A. Dobson has to say about pigeons. He is also “sure that chipmunks occasionally hibernate,” but concedes that he may be mistaken in saying they do so invariably.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-01
President Roosevelt approves the use of a portion of a manuscript by George Shiras about wolves for publication in The Outing Magazine. Roosevelt reminds Caspar Whitney to use the excerpt as a repudiation of William J. Long’s writings.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-16
President Roosevelt provides details about his experience as a hunter and a naturalist for Caspar Whitney, editor of The Outing Magazine, for his upcoming article on the nature fakers controversy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-04
President Roosevelt addresses the entire editorial board of The Outlook, as he is unsure which particular editor “had his mind all turned askew” by the writings of William J. Long. Roosevelt appreciates The Outlook’s coverage of topics such as the Brownsville Incident, race relations in San Francisco, and railroad rate legislation, but he takes strong exception to The Outlook describing his distaste for Long’s writing a “controversy.” Roosevelt condems Long’s writings and describes him as a “cheap imposter” who does not observe nature but fabricates nature stories that could not possibly happen. Roosevelt takes issue with The Oulook’s assertions about his comments on Long’s writing, and discusses in detail the “mechanical”—not “mathematical”—impossibility of a wolf killing a caribou with a single bite as Long describes. Roosevelt suggests several naturalists in New York the editors can consult in matters of “nature fakers,” and offers to go page by page through one of Long’s books with The Outlook special nature editor.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-03
President Roosevelt agrees with Cephas F. Clapp, both about railroad trusts and nature faker writers. Roosevelt discusses the characteristics of antelope and giraffe horns.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-06-21
President Roosevelt looks forward to receiving a copy of Egerton Ryerson Young’s book, My Dogs in the Northland. Roosevelt says he has a poor opinion of Jack London. Roosevelt thanks Young for his hard work as a missionary.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-06-20
Theodore Roosevelt sends John Burroughs the letter that he sent to William J. Long’s publisher. Roosevelt’s book is less thrilling, but more accurate than Long’s work. Roosevelt would like Burroughs to come to Oyster Bay or Washington, D.C., for a visit. He would like to discuss the question of the intellect and moral sense of animals.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-09-27
President Roosevelt doubts William J. Long’s account of lynx hunting together.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-01-02
President Roosevelt shares some of his thoughts on mussels and sea life and returns John Burroughs proof with few notes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-10-12
President Roosevelt and Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt will be visiting John Burroughs at Slabsides, but Ted Roosevelt has a previous engagement. Roosevelt provides some thoughts on animal instinct, learning, and teaching. He states that most of the “school of the woods” material is “deliberate invention of an arrantly silly type.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-07-06
Frederick F. Sharpless sends Theodore Roosevelt a photograph of two bear cubs taken in Seward, Alaska, noting the rare expression captured. He believes Roosevelt would appreciate the image and sends it with his compliments.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-08
Caspar Whitney, editor of the Outing Magazine, sends President Roosevelt the proofs for his upcoming article on nature fakers. He criticizes author and naturalist William J. Long’s supposed observations of wolf cubs. Whitney believes Roosevelt was right to attack Long as “one word from you will…reach every ear.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-16
John O’Hara Cosgrave, of Everybody’s Magazine, sends proofs of an article about the “nature faker” controversy, which includes a piece by President Roosevelt. Cosgrave details the final form of the article and believes it will be “the last word on the subject.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-03
Caspar Whitney shares his plan to write about the “naturalist fakirs” in The Outing with President Roosevelt, and asks Roosevelt about his experience as a naturalist for the article. Whitney also asks for information regarding John Burroughs’s experience as a naturalist.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-03
John M. Phillips sends President Roosevelt an article by R. M. Norboe, and is pleased Roosevelt has taken on the “fake” natural history writers like William J. Long.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-06-08