Big game animals

A handwritten table of contents for Theodore Roosevelt’s book, Life Histories of African Big Game. A typed copy is also included.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1914

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt finds the letters sent by William T. Hornaday to be interesting and has never seen anything like it, but doubts their veracity due to the connection with W. J. Long.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-12

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

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.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-15

President Roosevelt shares with Leigh S. J. Hunt his excitement over the pictures “both as hunter and naturalist.” He asks Hunt to thank Sir William for the photographs of African game animals.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-29

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt thanks William T. Hornaday and remarks on how much work still needs to be learned in the field of the natural history of big game. Roosevelt references German hunter C. G. Schillings’s new book.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-01-17

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt has very much enjoyed Frederick Courteney Selous’s articles and hopes he will write a book about the natural history of big game. Roosevelt appreciates Selous’s ability to describe sights vividly and accurately.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-12-18

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt greatly admires Warburton Pike’s caribou photographs and wishes he could do photography. He compliments Pike’s descriptions of animals and hopes he will write more books.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-18

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt asks Major Pitcher to arrange for a camping outfit for Edward North Buxton and his daughter who plan to visit Yellowstone Park near the end of March or the beginning of April. Roosevelt informs Pitcher they would like to see the game and asks him to get a hold of Billy Hofer or George Whittaker to take care of the matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-03

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

A.L. Butler, the English game officer of the Sudan, will be visiting Yellowstone and President Roosevelt requests that Pitcher “give him every proper facility for observing matters.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-08-24

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Theodore Roosevelt is proud to have a subspecies of elk, “the noblest game animal of America,” named after him. Roosevelt would like to have lunch with C. Hart Merriam to discuss the Smithsonian matter. Roosevelt is also returning Merriam’s manuscript, in which he found little to correct.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1897-12-09

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Theodore Roosevelt tells George Bird Grinnell that the title of General A. W. Greely’s book is Three Years of Arctic Service. Roosevelt agrees with putting the moose head on the cover of the book and if Grinnell gets short of copy, Roosevelt can give him some writing. Another idea if they are short of copy is for Grinnell and Roosevelt to write a composite article on the distribution of “big game animals of temperate North America.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1897-08-03

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

C. Hart Merriam is in the process of revising a review of Roosevelt’s Life Histories of African Game Animals. Merriam says that the book is “one of the most complete and useful works ever written on the game animals of any country.” The delay has been caused by the desire for books about the war.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-01-15

Creator(s)

Merriam, C. Hart (Clinton Hart), 1855-1942

William T. Hornaday will show Theodore Roosevelt some of the finest animals in captivity when he visits New York. As part of the wildlife protection advocacy efforts, Hornaday will send a copy of “Our Vanishing Wild Life” to every senator, assemblyman, member of Congress and governor.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1913-01-06

Creator(s)

Hornaday, William T. (William Temple), 1854-1937

Charles D. Wolcott thanks Theodore Roosevelt for the African safari hunting trophy. He will likely be in New York City on Friday or Saturday and would like to discuss the volume of large mammals if Roosevelt is to be in town.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-25

Creator(s)

Walcott, Charles D. (Charles Doolittle), 1850-1927

Ernest Thompson Seton informs President Roosevelt that the “Seton Beam” apparatus has just arrived, and is a credit to the company. Since Seton must leave for England, his wife, Grace Seton-Tompson will take charge, and it should reach Roosevelt within a week. Seton would be proud to have added any “efficiency” to the African Expedition.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-26

Creator(s)

Seton, Ernest Thompson, 1860-1946

Alfred E. Pease discusses President Roosevelt’s travel plans for his upcoming trip to Africa. Pease, who will be hosting Roosevelt, suggests he visit Nairobi and take the Athi River to Mombasa. Pease also updates Roosevelt on his own family’s travel plans, and discusses the big game present in the area.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-07

Creator(s)

Pease, Alfred E. (Alfred Edward), Sir, 1857-1939

Harry Johnston takes great pleasure in corresponding with President Roosevelt, not just because it is an honor to have private letters from an important head of state, but also because Johnston is elated that Roosevelt shares his opinions about the treatment of Black people. Johnston outlines some of his beliefs, including the fact that better treatment of Africans in British colonies makes good economic sense. Johnston will be in the United States in the autumn, and hopes to meet with Roosevelt and discuss a number of matters he hopes to write about, including a history of African people in the Western Hemisphere, the problems of Liberia, and the preservation of big game. In a postscript, Johnston writes in “phonetic English,” saying if English spelling were simplified it would become the “universal medium of international relations.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-08-06

Creator(s)

Johnston, Harry, 1858-1927

William W. Hart asks if President Roosevelt has any game heads or fur rugs that need to be inspected for cleaning, repairing, or moth-proofing purposes. Hart offers to send over a competent man to estimate costs if Roosevelt needs any of these services.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-02

Creator(s)

Hart, William W. (William Wallace), 1861-1932

Two versions of an article written for North Dakota History magazine. The first, by Olaf T. Hagen, focuses on the history of Theodore Roosevelt’s time in the Dakota Badlands. The latter, revised and expanded by Ray H. Mattison after Hagen’s death, describes the history of the region from Custer’s time through the 1890s. Mattison’s revision focuses more on the arrival of the railroad and its effects on the game in the region, which had been plentiful but declined rapidly as hunters and adventurers decimated the herds.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Creation Date

1949

Creator(s)

Hagen, Olaf T. (Olaf Theodore), -1949; Mattison, Ray H., 1903-1980

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt asks G. P. Putnam’s Sons to send Emily Tyler Carow a copy of the recently published pamphlet on big game.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1897-08-09

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919