Collier, Holt

President Roosevelt writes to Archie Roosevelt that one letter home will suffice for both parents and gives updates on his life at home with Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt. He recently had visitors for tennis and French Ambassador J. J. Jusserand brought him a medal from an artist. When he came home he brought Quentin Roosevelt bear tusks and a stuffed copperhead skin.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-10-27

John Milliken Parker has just returned from a country trip, and he spoke with Brutus Jackson, who has spent several months locating game for Parker’s hunt in the fall. Parker can guarantee President Roosevelt several kills and while the area is easily accessible by train, it is also very private. Parker and Collier hope to get some old dogs from some “Eastern packs,” so they will be able to alternate days. Parker hopes Roosevelt will be able to take some time off in November or December to join them for the hunt and some “much needed rest.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03-15

Stephen E. Ambrose and Douglas Brinkley tell the story of the most famous bear hunt in American history: Theodore Roosevelt’s unsuccessful hunt for black bear in Mississippi that gave birth to the teddy bear toy. Ambrose and Brinkley provide political context for the trip to Mississippi, list the members of the hunting party, and describe the hunt of November 15, 1902. The article also describes Clifford Berryman’s cartoon depiction of the hunt which led to the creation of the teddy bear. 

 

A photograph of Brinkley and his wife, and three photographs of members of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) distributing teddy bears at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, accompany the article. A text box with the vision statement of the TRA appears at the end of the article. 

Three biographies–of Holt Collier, Theodore Roosevelt, and Gifford Pinchot–come under scrutiny in the “Reviews” section along with a play and documentary about Roosevelt. Tweed Roosevelt finds the biography of Holt Collier, who led Theodore Roosevelt’s famous 1902 bear hunt, notable for its descriptions of slavery in antebellum Mississippi, but he finds its coverage of Roosevelt flawed. Gregory A. Wynn recommends Kathleen Dalton’s biography Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life for its coverage of Roosevelt’s life after the presidency, its recognition of the important influence women had on his life, and for making Roosevelt “a hero for liberals.” The section also contains an excerpt of a review of Dalton’s work from Kirkus Reviews. 

 

Gary A. Clinton admires Laurence Luckinbill’s play Teddy Tonight for capturing the spirit of Roosevelt in his own words, and he finds that it resonates in a nation reeling from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. A review of The History Channel’s documentary TR: An American Lion lists the “talking head” historians who appear in the film along with members of the Roosevelt family. The review highlights the negative coverage given Roosevelt’s attitudes on race and imperialism, and it praises the actors who provide the film’s narration and voice of Roosevelt. The section concludes with excerpts from four positive reviews of Char Miller’s biography of Gifford Pinchot.

 

Theodore Roosevelt will not make a formal speech. He has enjoyed his time in Mississippi.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-11-18

John Milliken Parker sends a copy of Frank H. Tompkins’ book, Riparian Lands of the Mississippi River, and photographs of wild turkeys to President Roosevelt. Parker relays that Holt Collier, Major George M. Helm, Hugh Foote, and John Avery McIlhenny are on a bear-hunting expedition.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-11-24