Arizona--Grand Canyon National Park

Theodore Roosevelt asks Archibald “Archie” B. Roosevelt to tell H. D. Evans he will give the requested brief talks. However, he will not visit the cave dwellings but will plan to arrive early in Mesa, Arizona, for the ride in the desert. Evans wrote Roosevelt a nice letter about Archie. Roosevelt wants Archie to visit the Grand Canyon with him and thinks he will enjoy it. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-02

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Theodore Roosevelt noticed Kermit Roosevelt’s “delicate hint” in his question about Theodore “Ted” Roosevelt and the Pudding and, therefore, sends a check for sixty dollars. He agrees with Kermit about the foolishness of the Camp Fire Club’s hunting honor list. Roosevelt tries to avoid joining clubs but still pays membership fees for many without returns in pleasure or profit. Unfortunately, Roosevelt’s library is too full of books like A. D. Melvin’s. While he is pleased Kermit ran the races, Roosevelt is glad he is finished with training. Quentin Roosevelt enjoyed Kermit’s visit to Groton School. Roosevelt dreads being overworked on his trips and wants to enjoy time with family and visit the Grand Canyon.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-02

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Frank Harper finalizes Theodore Roosevelt’s travel plans with C. J. Blanchard. He notes that Roosevelt can speak in El Paso, Texas, but cannot be late arriving in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He asks Blanchard for information about the Grand Canyon, Theodore Roosevelt Dam, and El Paso.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-01-26

Creator(s)

Harper, Frank, 1882-1971

Theodore Clay Northcott sent an album of photographs depicting the Luray Caverns, which he asks William Loeb to present to President Roosevelt and his family. He is unsure if Roosevelt has visited the caves during his many travels. Northcott believes they are impressive creations of nature, comparable to Yosemite and the Grand Canyon. The caverns are convenient to Roosevelt’s Virginia estate, and the community would be honored should he visit.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-13

Creator(s)

Northcott, Theodore C. (Theodore Clay), 1844-1941

In this two part article, John A. Gable traces the origins of President Theodore Roosevelt’s use of the term “Square Deal” to his great western tour in the Spring of 1903. Gable asserts that the first use of the exact term can be found in Roosevelt’s speech at the Grand Canyon on May 6, 1903, and he notes that the first two uses of the term were in reference to Native American and African American soldiers whom Roosevelt praised for their service in the Spanish-American War. The article includes the text of Roosevelt’s Grand Canyon speech and a short excerpt from his speech at Abraham Lincoln’s tomb in Springfield, Illinois.

A photograph of Roosevelt speaking in Evanston, Illinois during the western tour and a text box with a listing of the officers of the Theodore Roosevelt Association supplement the text.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1991

John A. Gable provides a comprehensive accounting of the conservation record of President Theodore Roosevelt, and in ten quotations dating from 1905 to 1912, Roosevelt explains his philosophy of conservation. Roosevelt stresses that natural resources must be carefully managed for future generations and that conservation is the most important issue facing the country. Gable lists the 21 reclamation projects, 150 national forests, 51 bird refuges, and 4 national game preserves established by Roosevelt during his presidency. Gable also lists the 5 national parks and 18 national monuments created during Roosevelt’s tenure. He also notes the 7 different commissions and conferences called by Roosevelt during his presidency to study issues related to conservation and natural resources.

Photographs of Roosevelt at the dedication of the Roosevelt Dam in Arizona, at a federal bird refuge in Louisiana, and on horseback supplement the text.

A listing of the officers of the Theodore Roosevelt Association along with the members of its executive, finance, and Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace committees is included in the article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

In “News of the Association,” John A. Gable discusses plans for the Quasquicentennial of Theodore Roosevelt’s birth during 1982 and 1983. He provides a detailed look at an article about Roosevelt’s conservation legacy in National Geographic Magazine and also examines Paul Schullery’s article about Roosevelt and fishing in The American Fly Fisher. Gable discusses Roosevelt’s use of the Antiquities Act, notes the passing of members of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA), and quotes extensively from a letter from Alton A. Lindsay praising the value of the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal to scholars. Gable notes the TRA’s support of the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site in Buffalo, New York, praises the documentary film My Father the President about life at Sagamore Hill, and acknowledges the work of Wallace Finley Dailey of Harvard University in compiling a bibliography of journal and magazine articles about Roosevelt.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1982

Creator(s)

Gable, John A.

Wallace Finley Dailey, Curator of the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard University, describes in detail two exhibits of Theodore Roosevelt material on display in the Theodore Roosevelt Gallery in the Nathan Marsh Pusey Library in 1977. One exhibit covers Roosevelt’s long relationship with Harvard University from his undergraduate student years to his death. The other explores Roosevelt’s relationship with his daughter Ethel Roosevelt Derby. In both exhibit summaries, Dailey quotes extensively from Roosevelt’s letters and speeches and provides descriptions of the photographs used in the exhibits. 

Three photographs and one illustration accompany the article. One photograph shows Dailey examining the exhibit display cases. Another shows Roosevelt with a group of his Harvard classmates, and one shows Derby at the White House in 1902. The illustration is a drawing by Roosevelt’s classmate, Charles G. Washburn, that depicts a monument detailing Roosevelt’s many activities at Harvard. 

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

In “The Sighting at Pine Knot, Virginia,” Alton A. Lindsay explores the question of whether Theodore Roosevelt was the last person to report a credible sighting of the extinct passenger pigeon near his presidential retreat, Pine Knot in Virginia, in 1907. Lindsay provides a history of Pine Knot and also looks at the making of Roosevelt as a naturalist going back to his childhood.  He notes some of the defining experiences in Roosevelt’s life that made him a naturalist and conservationist, such as his time in the Dakota Badlands. Like other scholars he pushes back against the idea that Roosevelt was merely a man of action and asserts that he “was a man of intellect.”

He details Roosevelt’s sighting of a small flock of passenger pigeons in May 1907, and argues that Roosevelt’s history and experience as a naturalist and ornithologist lend credibility to his claims to have seen the birds. 

A photograph of President Roosevelt and another showing the Pine Knot cabin from the side and rear accompany the article.

Two paragraph excerpt from Paul Russell Cutright’s Theodore Roosevelt: The Naturalist that describes President Theodore Roosevelt’s decision to establish the Pelican Island bird refuge in Florida along with a number of other bird reservations from 1903 to 1909. The Cutright excerpt is followed by two paragraphs that describe Roosevelt’s creation of national parks and monuments and closes with a quotation on conservation from his A Book-Lover’s Holiday in the Open.

A picture of Roosevelt examining a bird egg along with two unidentified men at a federal bird reservation in 1915 accompanies the article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

This bill designates certain lands in various national parks and other national lands as wilderness areas. Theodore Roosevelt National park is among those included.

Collection

Denver Public Library

Creation Date

1972-10-04

Creator(s)

Saylor, John P.

President Nixon urges Congress to quickly approve of his endeavor to designate the Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park. Nixon has been accelerating his efforts to preserve more lands as parks and he is not satisfied with the rate in which Congress has acted on these lands. Cooperating in this regard will result in a better-served public.

Collection

Denver Public Library

Creation Date

1972-09-21

Creator(s)

Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994

Theodore Roosevelt regrets that he cannot stop in Silver City, New Mexico, to visit the Fergusons. He summarizes the upcoming trip and plans to visit the Fergusons in the future.

Collection

Arizona Historical Society

Creation Date

1910-12-24

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Ray H. Mattison responds to Superintendent Hanks’s request for advice on the content of the address to be given at the dedication ceremony for Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park. Park Historian Mattison includes a number of Roosevelt quotations on a variety of topics and his opinion on the focus of the address.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Creation Date

1949-05-21

Creator(s)

Mattison, Ray H., 1903-1980