Your TR Source
Theodore Roosevelt shares the details of Ted Roosevelt’s travel plans to visit John Burroughs. When Roosevelt lived on his ranch in North Dakota was the only time he could really hear bird songs.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1900-05-05
Governor Roosevelt sends John Burroughs a copy of his book Big Game Hunting. Roosevelt specifically asks him to look at a description of birds, “Again and again as I have listened to those plains birds I have longed to have you hear them.” His son Ted will also be visiting Burroughs.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1900-05-01
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt explains to Edmond Redmond that only tame birds could be experimented with, and there are no means to tame waterfowl.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-09-18
Theodore Roosevelt wishes that John Burroughs could be with him and Edith Roosevelt when they walk the White House grounds. Roosevelt also struggles with “naming the birds without a gun” as Ralph Waldo Emerson enjoined. There are some birds that Roosevelt cannot make out with mere field glasses.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-05-14
William T. Hornaday is certain that Theodore Roosevelt will be the successor to President Wilson, and he expects that Americans will be disgusted by Congress’s meager preparedness plan. Hornaday hopes that Roosevelt can help him prevent the re-election of Congressman Bennet who Hornaday considers to be a traitor. Hornaday also encloses a piece he wrote about the guacharo bird.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1916-04-01
William T. Hornaday thanks Theodore Roosevelt for the letter which was sent to William Beebe. Hornaday believes Beebe is the world’s greatest ornithologist in part because, like Hornaday, he is committed to “making interesting zoological knowledge available to the millions who are interested in birds.” Hornaday would like Roosevelt to attend the opening of the Heads and Horns Collection in the Spring of 1918.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1916-10-10
William T. Hornaday writes to Theodore Roosevelt to advise that Iowa state game warden Elmer Calvin Hinshaw is fighting against bills to give Iowa prairie chickens and quail five year close seasons. It has been reported in the press that Roosevelt is supporting Hinshaw on account of Roosevelt being a member of the Advisory Board of the American Game Protective and Propagation Association.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1917-03-16
Gifford Pinchot will be on the train with Theodore Roosevelt on May 24. Pinchot’s trip to Florida was a success. Pinchot would like to discuss with Roosevelt what he learned about the mental workings of birds and fish.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1913-05-19
Edward William Nelson sends Theodore Roosevelt some of his findings on the natural history of Alaska. He includes reports on the habits of birds and the material culture of the indigenous people of the Bering Strait. Nelson read Roosevelt’s “extremely interesting and valuable” article on animal coloration and agrees that Thayer and other naturalists “have gone beyond all reason” in their conclusions.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-02
Charles D. Walcott signed a letter to Henry Fairfield Osborn notifying him of the transfer of two white rhinoceros skins that Theodore Roosevelt collected. He was sorry to hear of Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt’s accident and hopes she is recovering, especially as he knows what it is like to have someone close experience a serious accident. Childs Frick and Edmund Heller are in Abyssinia (Ethiopia) to augment the specimens collected while on safari with Roosevelt. Walcott will soon be in New York City and hopes to see Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-11-03
Charles W. Hargitt thanks Theodore Roosevelt for his paper, “Revealing and Concealing Coloration in Birds and Mammals,” and his “convincing critique” of Abbott Handerson Thayer. Hargitt also sends a copy of a discussion on a similar topic that might interest Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-02
William Beebe is asking for Theodore Roosevelt’s help in obtaining permission from the Government in New York to send a man to the lighthouse and catch a bird specimen for research. Beebe also tells Roosevelt a little bit about his current research.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-05
W. G. Avery offers his seven-volume set of John James Audubon’s Birds of America to Theodore Roosevelt. He does not want to sell them as they were part of his family’s library, but poor health compels him. If Roosevelt is interested, Avery’s friend James B. Dayton will make arrangements.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-07-28
Alice Roseley hopes to interest Theodore Roosevelt in the scientific conservation of birds native to the United States, as she feels that helping native birds flourish is more productive than importing foreign birds to try to fill in gaps. She proposes several measures she believes might help, including national aviaries and uniform game laws, and mentions her efforts to drive interest in the matter through the addresses she has given.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-07-23
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.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-07-25
Frank M. Chapman has received Theodore Roosevelt’s proof of his upcoming article, and is glad that he approved of his suggestion. Chapman points Roosevelt to an article he wrote in which he discusses the connection between coloration and habitat further.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-07-01
Frank M. Chapman sends Theodore Roosevelt the balance of the proof of his article on protective coloration of animals. Chapman believes that, at least as far as birds are concerned, protective coloration is more important than Roosevelt currently allows in his article, and offers a number of examples supporting this view.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06-26
Frank M. Chapman writes to Theodore Roosevelt on his return from South America. Chapman discusses depictions of cactus wrens and discusses their attributes. Inquiring on Roosevelt’s work on protective coloration, Chapman details his experiences in relation to the topic. Chapman hopes he can discuss the portions of Roosevelt’s paper pertaining to birds. He continues by discussing new publications on ornithology.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06-19
After reading about how much Theodore Roosevelt likes birds and wildlife, Jessie Lee Bull sends him a Bird Almanac put out by the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Syracuse, New York.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-07
Ruthven Deane recalls the “cordial reception” Theodore Roosevelt gave her at the Press Club gathering and requests one of his bookplates for her collection.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-01-11