California

Mrs. N. Germain shares her travels around the Northwest with Theodore Roosevelt after leaving Massachusetts in 1907. She is now prepared to return East and give lectures. She asks Roosevelt for a reliable party to contact. Germain used to work in shops and wants to purchase land and work for the betterment of mill and shop girls. She asks Roosevelt for information about Arizona and New Mexico.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-07

Edward J. Sullivan praises Theodore Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-31

George LeRoy Brown sends Theodore Roosevelt some correspondence he recently received from California Adjutant General Edwin A. Forbes, along with legislation providing for the establishment of high school military cadets. He asks Roosevelt to give a word of support to the movement. Brown thanks Roosevelt for appointing his son to West Point, saying that he is doing fairly well there, and briefly updates Roosevelt on his other children as well.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-29

On behalf of the California Development Board, Francis Hope, the organization’s secretary, invites Theodore Roosevelt to “See California in a Day” by visiting the exhibit rooms in San Francisco’s Ferry Building.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-29

John J. Santine discusses how he was a member of Company G of the McClellan Guards in California in 1963. The army commanders of the department of the Pacific administered the oath. He asks Theodore Roosevelt if this made him a Federal troop. Santine also comments on what California was like during the Civil War. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-27

William Kent regrets that he will not be able to show Theodore Roosevelt the area north of the bay himself while Roosevelt is in California, but he nevertheless invites Roosevelt to visit his house and drive into the woods while he is away. Kent strongly desires Francis J. Heney to be appointed as a United States Senator. He believes the senior senator, Senator George Clement Perkins, will not last long, and that Heney would be an ideal candidate to replace him. Kent suggests that if Roosevelt feels himself able to, that he write to California Governor Hiram Johnson to suggest this to him. The difficulties Heney has experienced following his work in the Oregon Land Fraud trial cause Kent a great deal of regret, and he would like to help him if possible.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-24

Secretary of State Knox assures Governor Johnson that the interests of California do not diverge from the nation at large. The State Department has never raised questions as to California’s dealings under Johnson’s administration.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-25

Knowing of Theodore Roosevelt’s interest in football, Edgar Pomeroy sends him copies of several letters that might interest him. Pomeroy also corrects a statement of David Starr Jordan, clarifying that rugby was introduced into England much earlier than soccer.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-25

Elizabeth Love Watson requests that Theodore Roosevelt provide a brief statement on his views of women’s suffrage in light of the California state legislature’s offer to grant women the vote. Both women and men participated in welcoming Roosevelt to California and in electing Governor Hiram Johnson. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-25

Elmer E. Harriman recently heard Theodore Roosevelt speak in California, and writes to tell him how much he approves of Roosevelt’s ideas. Harriman had the opportunity to speak with Jacob Riis, and while he was interested in Roosevelt previously, he became even more so after the conversation and reading Riis’s book. Harriman is glad to share Roosevelt’s ideals, and that he has had the opportunity to help further them in California.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-22

T. S. White and his wife want to entertain Theodore Roosevelt during his stay in California.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-19

Having taken heart from Theodore Roosevelt’s Chicago speech advocating allowing people to vote regardless of gender, Grace C. Simons of the Political Equality League of California asks Roosevelt if he would be willing to write several sentences to be used to help advocate for women’s suffrage. The current California legislature has passed bills amending the state’s constitution in several progressive ways, including granting women the vote, but the matter must now be voted on by the general public. The league is therefore engaged in a campaign to convince the average citizen of the importance of these matters, and Roosevelt’s assistance would be extremely valuable.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-20

Clara Shortridge Foltz, and the other members of a committee representing the Votes for Women Club, asks Theodore Roosevelt what his views are on the topic of women’s suffrage. An amendment granting women’s suffrage is currently pending ratification in California.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-20

Joseph L. Murphey, a former resident of New York, welcomes Theodore Roosevelt to California, and provides him with some details about the political situation in the state. Murphy greatly approves of Governor Hiram Johnson as a progressive, and believes the state legislature as a whole is good. Similarly, Los Angeles has “one of the best city governments perhaps in the world,” although he looks negatively on San Francisco’s municipal government. President William H. Taft only has middling support in the state, as most Republicans are Progressive.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-20

William H. Walker believes that “our ‘Monroe Doctrine’ is as big as our NAVY; and, no bigger.” He hopes that, as California makes up a large part of the coastline of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt will emphasize this point in his speeches while he travels through the state. If their mutual friend Edwin T. Earl, and the newspaper he publishes, were convinced of the idea, it would carry great weight with the public.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-20

On behalf of the Equal Suffrage Amendment League of Oakland, Sarah C. Borland writes to Theodore Roosevelt and asks him to speak in favor of the cause of women’s suffrage in his lectures. An amendment has already passed the legislature, and will go before the population of California in September for ratification. Any support Roosevelt is able to give will go a great way towards helping drive enthusiasm and advance the cause of women’s suffrage.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-21

Creator(s)

Borland, Sarah C., 1852-1925

Caroline C. Jackson asks Theodore Roosevelt to speak in favor of the proposed amendment to the California constitution granting women suffrage.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-21

Governor Johnson welcomes Theodore Roosevelt to California. He has been too busy to greet Roosevelt in person.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-21

Dell M. Potter and T. M. White of the Trans-Continental Good Roads Association of Arizona have invited delegates from multiple states to meet and organize the National Trans-Continental Good Roads Association. This association would build a transcontinental road through the delegates’ states. They hope Roosevelt will be the president as they believe he is the only man who can ensure success in their endeavor.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-15

Representative Kent wants to take Theodore Roosevelt, Governor Hiram Johnson, Theodore “Ted” Roosevelt, and Francis J. Heney on an outing up the mountains during his visit to California. He warns Roosevelt about the “grafting bunch.” Kent discusses “the great things” Johnson has done for California as governor. While Heney has been brave since his loss (his wife, Rebecca W. Heney, died January 26, 1911), Kent believes time with Roosevelt will bolster him.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-02-20