Books and reading

James Carleton Young is sending the books for Vice President Roosevelt to inscribe.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-09-04

Mrs. H. H. Major requests that Vice President Roosevelt donate a copy of The Rough Riders to the public school library of Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-08-29

Nelson M. Parker claims to be the president of a nationwide society and offers to use the society to work on behalf of a Roosevelt presidential campaign. He requests some funding to get the campaign started. Parker also offers Roosevelt some ancient books and maps that would “startle the world” if made public.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-08-29

Philip Battell Stewart thanks Vice President Roosevelt for sending a copy of The Wilderness Hunter. Stewart is hosting Mr. Ingman, a Boer, at his home. He likes Ingman and believes, if he was a Boer, he would act just like they have during the South African War. However, Stewart believes that southern Africa will be better off in British hands. Stewart has spoken to Ingman about hunting lions and imagines a hunting trip with Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-08-29

Eliza Raybould Allan wishes she could have talked more with Vice President Roosevelt at an event in Colorado Springs. Allan would have traveled to see him speak again but she is poor and could not pay her fare. Allan is also interested in the writing Roosevelt has done on Oliver Cromwell, as she was born in England and lived in the places Cromwell traveled. Allan is trying to raise money to buy a house and asks Roosevelt to find subscribers to help her.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-08-30

John Prescott Nourse doubts he will have a chance of finding a descendent of Mary Vaughton. Nourse sends Governor Roosevelt a book, as well as two enclosures from a previous letter. Nourse also sends a story which he believes may evoke “a passing smile amidst the worries of public life.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1900-12-27

William H. Altman sends Vice President Roosevelt some papers and “relics” he obtained from Roosevelt’s saddlebag and haversack while he was working at the Rock Island Arsenal, where equipment from Roosevelt’s troops were received for repairs after the troops returned from Cuba. Altman explains that he comes from “fighting stock,” gives a list of relatives who have served as soldiers, and asks for a remembrance from Roosevelt. Altman offers to send Roosevelt a copy of Rock Island Arsenal: In Peace and In War, if he does not already have one.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-02-27

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1910-03-03

Creator(s)

Marshall, Edith

Recipient

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

John Burroughs thanks Governor Roosevelt for the book and invites Ted Roosevelt to spend the following weekend with him. He invites Governor Roosevelt to his ranch and talks about the Eastern and Western Meadow Larks and the Mourning Dove Warblers.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1900-05-04

Lieutenant Steenstrup of the Danish Army is planning a lecture on the Spanish-American War to be given to his comrades. He hopes that Governor Roosevelt, a well known participant in the war, can offer advice on the “best books dealing with the subject.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1899-09-29

Robert Bridges, an employee of Charles Scribner’s Sons, writes that he is pleased with the draft of the Oliver Cromwell biography. He also covers some other business matters including agreeing to publish a few poems by Mary Fanny Youngs and a request that if Roosevelt decides to write on the reorganization of the army his magazine would like to publish the article.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1899-10-06

Frederick Courteney Selous endeavors to answer some of Governor Roosevelt’s question about the South African War. Selous lived for many years in South Africa and had a lot of contact with Boer hunters and frontiersmen. He provides a comprehensive history of the “Transvaal Boers” and factors which led to their current conflict with the British.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1900-03-04

Rowland Ward Limited writes in receipt of Theodore Roosevelt’s payment for The Sportsman’s Handbook.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1898-05-09

Houghton Mifflin Company requests an update on Theodore Roosevelt’s revisions of his books Gouverneur Morris and Thomas H. Benton. The printers are almost out of copies of those articles and they are anxious to get the new editions, even if that means the introductions Roosevelt proposed are not quite ready yet. They hope Roosevelt can notify them of the status before he travels west with the Army.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1898-05-12

Houghton, Mifflin and Company thanks Assistant Secretary of the Navy Allen for his letter, which has led to the discovery of the prefaces of two biographies written by Theodore Roosevelt: Thomas Hart Benton and Gouvernor Morris. The prefaces had previously gone to the printers, who failed to report that they had received them.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1898-05-16

Receipt for $31.95 with dates from February 10 to July 8.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1899-08-01

Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan explains to Governor Roosevelt that a line of poetry recalled by Bucky O’Neill was from “The Battle of the Lake Regillus.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1899-08-17

Rudyard Kipling thanks Police Commissioner Roosevelt for his previous letter and jokingly requests that Roosevelt use police forces to induce a letter from W. H. Phillips who has stopped replying to Kipling’s letters.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1897-03-25

Houghton, Mifflin and Company provides a receipt for purchased items.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1897-07-31

Senator Chandler agrees with Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt on acquiring the guns for the United States’ commercial ships and torpedo boats and that deciding on a general policy about the Navy’s size before building any additional large ships would be wise. Chandler wants to find some way to force Andrew Carnegie and the Bethlehem Iron Company to make plate armor on mutually agreed-upon terms. Roosevelt does not need to say anymore about the “infernal gunboat,” as hopefully it served as a good lesson. He sends a letter from Howell to be read only by Roosevelt and Secretary of the Navy John D. Long. Chandler asks when a warship is going to Havana, Cuba.

Comments and Context

The “infernal gunboat” is a reference to an administrative issue with the USS Newport.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division