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President Roosevelt is happy Kermit has been acting as cox on the rowing team. Roosevelt describes his trip into the Grand Canyon and all the animals and plants he has seen. He has collected a variety of treasures which he will bring home for Kermit and the other children. These treasures include a badger named Josiah.
1903-05-10
President Roosevelt sends Kermit a “picture letter” of things he has done and seen on his western trip with John Burroughs. There is a sketch of them chasing elk, a sketch of an owl, and of mountain goats. Roosevelt says he has enjoyed the trip.
1903-04-16
A young Theodore Roosevelt sketches various animals and a fishing boat in Naples. The exact year of these sketches in unknown.
1870
O. O. Lamb wants to know where I can get Theodore Roosevelt’s book, what it will cost, and how long it will take to get the book.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-11
On behalf of Dr. Paul B. Barringer, John S. A. Johnson reminds Theodore Roosevelt of his prior commitment to speaking about domesticating wild African animals. They do not mind if Roosevelt changes the speech topic, but hope he is still able to visit.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-21
Henry P. Curtis describes a recent publication on European natural history that he believes Theodore Roosevelt might be interested in. He explains how many towns were named after the animals that once resided there, such as Wolverhampton (wolves).
Curtis also shares with Roosevelt that his father was a Whig, while Curtis is a Republican. He expresses admiration for Senator John Sherman, discusses his political adversaries, and wishes that Sherman, Alexander Hamilton, and Daniel Webster could have been presidents.
W. P. Pycraft thanks Theodore Roosevelt for his sharp criticism of Abbott Thayer’s book on animal coloration, calling it a public service. He discusses his own work on birds, Darwinian views, and a past attempt to send Roosevelt a copy. Pycraft expresses a desire to meet again and recalls their prior meeting at the museum.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-13
Clifford Richardson thanks Theodore Roosevelt for sharing his paper on coloration and agrees with Roosevelt’s critique of the Thayers, stating they lack field experience and natural accuracy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-10
Frederick Courteney Selous asks if President Roosevelt would consider writing a short introduction for the book he has written about African animals. Selous plans to dedicate the book to Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-04-19
President Roosevelt walks into a clearing of animals with his rifle where a snake, bear, cougar, and rabbit holding signs that read “Immune. I’m a ‘practical’ varmint,” “Immune. Grandfather of the teddy-bear,” “Immune. Testified against fakirs,” and “Immune. A friend of John Burroughs.”
W. A. Rogers, a nationally celebrated cartoonist of thirty years’ work, was not above falling back on tired themes. Theodore Roosevelt’s passion for hunting, the apparent contradiction of his fervent conservation work with that passion, and the comic possibilities inherent in anthropomorphic creatures made cartoons like this virtually inevitable, and frequent.
President Roosevelt walks into a clearing of animals with his rifle where a snake, bear, cougar, and rabbit holding signs that read “Immune. I’m a ‘practical’ varmint,” “Immune. Grandfather of the teddy-bear,” “Immune. Testified against fakirs,” and “Immune. A friend of John Burroughs.” Caption: Prepared.
President Roosevelt went on an extended bear hunt near Stamboul, Louisiana, between October 6 and October 19, a rather long vacation away from the public in the middle of an extended speaking tour. It was in a part of the country, the canebrakes stretching between Mississippi and Louisiana, where a bear hunt early in his presidency, where the incident leading to the legend of the teddy bear arose.
President Roosevelt chases the “American Society of Nature Fakers” into the woods with a large “federal regulation” big stick. There are books and papers in the foreground, including “The Call of the Riled by Jack Onion” and a crowd of people watching in the background.
At first glance this cartoon might seem to be an allegory, one of many that addressed President Roosevelt using the Big Stick to bring malefactors in the business world to justice. Instead it is a straightforward depiction of one of several non-political causes taken up by the peripatetic president at this time.
“The Press” tries to walk toward the “cabinet” car, which includes Secretary of State Elihu Root, Secretary of the Treasury Leslie M. Shaw, Secretary of War William H. Taft, Attorney General William H. Moody, Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson, Secretary of the Navy Charles J. Bonaparte, and Secretary of Commerce Victor H. Metcalf, but “Headkeeper” William Loeb holds “the big stick” and tells him to stop. There is a dove of “peace” on the car and a sign that reads, “This way to the stuffed bears and mountain lions.” President Roosevelt rides away on an elephant.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-10-22
Uncle Sam points President Roosevelt, who holds his rifle, to the “grafter’s paradise” woods. There are a number of wild animals in there, including a “government land grabber” beaver, a “tobacco trust” hog, a “Tammany” tiger, and a “Panama Canal” cat. Caption: “Mr. President, there’s the big game. Now, fire away!”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-09
In this carbon copy of the original, Theodore Roosevelt writes his friend explorer Frederick Courteney Selous regarding Selous’ upcoming hunting safari in the Sudan. He asks him to kill and investigate certain animals including a Lado giraffe and a whiteheaded cob. He updates him on some of their friends and says Edmund Heller is going back to Africa. He thanks Selous for his words about Roosevelt’s defeat in the last Presidential election.
1911-02-02
This cartoon depicts Theodore Roosevelt around a campfire surrounded by several wild animals including a bear, bison, moose, rabbit, wolf, and elk/deer. Caption: “An appreciative audience hearing President Roosevelt relate his experience in the White House.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-04-11
Theodore Roosevelt, wearing his Rough Rider uniform, shares a feast with many wild animals sitting around a large banquet table in the wilderness. A bear is making a toast. Wearing buckskin, “Teddy Jr.” is sitting on a rock at a small table with a bear cub. Caption: The Bear (with deep feeling) Here’s hoping that when next we meet, we see you first.
Puck took another opportunity at a holiday time, Thanksgiving 1905, to run a non-political cartoon. J. S. Pughe’s drawing certainly was not partisan, either, but today might be considered as advocating a social cause: Opposition to animal cruelty. Theodore Roosevelt’s joy of the hunt, and descriptions of shooting and slaughtering (though always for food, hides, or specimens) are off-putting to more readers today than in his time.
Thomas W. Lawson, as Orpheus, plays a lyre while sitting beneath a tree on a hillside in a pastoral setting. In the foreground are John D. Rockefeller, James R. Keene, J. Edward Addicks, and Henry H. Rogers as wild animals that have become entranced by the music. In the middle distance, a sheep lies on its back.
The mythical Greek god, repository of perhaps the most attributes and personality traits of any god, added facets and powers in various tales through the centuries. No manifestation was more unlikely than in the person of Thomas W. Lawson in this Puck cartoon by Joseph Keppler Junior.
A turkey sits on a tree branch, dreaming of a “Vegetarian Pledge” and countless people lining up to sign their names. All the wild and domestic animals laugh. In the lower right corner, an old man with an axe waits for the turkey.
The major cartoon weeklies of the time had virtual designees as specialists in animal cartoons. Anthropomorphic creatures were a staple of American humor at the time — in fact, since Aesop — but cartoonists joined the ranks at this time. J. S. Pughe was the most prominent of Puck’s animal cartoonists.
A haughty, well-dressed woman sits in the middle of a ballroom, holding a paper that states “Society hence-forth will strive to attract brains, not mere vulgar wealth. –A leader of Alleged Society.” Around her are animal acts, gambling tables, men eating on horseback, people with small animals, and a monkey, wearing clothing, squatting on the floor eating off china. Caption: Puck — Madam, you can attract neither brains nor decency to society with this miserable outfit.
The “400” was the term given to the cream of American society, unconsciously bestowed by Ward McAllister, the unofficial arbiter of social events in Manhattan and Newport in the 1880s, and coined because of the capacity at one ball’s location. For social aspirants it became a term of ambition; for a growing class of moralistic conservatives — for instance, Theodore Roosevelt, who considered the playgrounds of the rich to be vulgar — and to the socially conscious and the poor, the activities of the 400 was something to disdain.