Cordingley, Nora E. (Nora Evelyn), 1888-

Gregory A. Wynn chronicles the search by the Roosevelt Memorial Association (RMA) for a home for its extensive Theodore Roosevelt Collection. Wynn highlights the choice between Columbia and Harvard University, and he highlights the group’s sensitivity to the feelings of Theodore Roosevelt’s widow, Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, as well as those of Nora E. Cordingley, the collection’s caretaker at its home at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace. Wynn reveals the disagreements and tensions between members of the RMA and the arguments made for and against each university gaining the collection, and he notes that the New York Public Library was also considered as the repository for the collection.

Three pieces of correspondence from the RMA and a photograph of John A. Gable with Hermann Hagedorn supplement the text.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Gregory A. Wynn examines the status of “perhaps the rarest of all presidential publications,” the memorial tribute book for Alice Lee Roosevelt and Martha Bulloch Roosevelt written by Theodore Roosevelt after the women’s deaths in February 1884. Wynn notes the discovery and use of the rare copies of this work by Roosevelt biographers, and he highlights the five known copies by noting who donated or purchased them, and he lists the libraries or private collections where the copies are housed. Four photographs and the logo of the Theodore Roosevelt Association supplement the text.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2011

In “Best Wishes From Oyster Bay,” twenty-six friends, colleagues, and fellow historians offer their thoughts on the life and work of John A. Gable, the Executive Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) and the founder and editor of the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal. Some of the themes that recur are Gable’s support and mentoring of historians and biographers in the early stages of their careers, his encyclopedic knowledge of Theodore Roosevelt, and his promotion of membership in the TRA. The authors also note his unsentimental critique of their work and his fostering a truce between the feuding Oyster Bay and Hyde Park, New York factions of the Roosevelt family. Two of the contributors, William N. Tilchin and Gregory A. Wynn, share some of their correspondence with Gable to demonstrate these themes, and almost all of the contributors highlight Gable’s generosity with his time and talents.

The piece includes a table of contents on its first page and it concludes with brief biographies of each of the authors. Twenty-three photographs populate the text, including twenty of Gable.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Report on the 77th annual meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) held in and around Boston, Massachusetts in October, 1996. The report highlights the conferring of several awards sponsored by the TRA: the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal to author David McCullough; the Bertha B. Rose Award to Wallace Finley Dailey of Harvard; the Police Award for a member of the Boston, Massachusetts, Police Department; and the Junior Officer of the Year Award to a member of the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The report also details the annual elections of the TRA, including the selection of Lawrence H. Budner as the next president, and it notes that tours of Harvard, including the Theodore Roosevelt Collection, were given for those who attended. The report highlights the many years of service to the TRA of P. James Roosevelt and announces that a lecture series will be established in his name.

Thirteen photographs of those who attended the various events populate the report, including five of McCullough.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Wallace Finley Dailey, curator of the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard, presents a thorough bibliographic list of journal and magazine articles published since 1950 which have featured Theodore Roosevelt. The list is split into thirty-two categories, and is meant to be used as a supplement to Harvard University Library’s Theodore Roosevelt Collection: Dictionary Catalog and Shelflist.

Four photographs and one illustration of Roosevelt reading accompany the bibliography.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Paul Russell Cutright examines the thirteen natural history notebooks that Theodore Roosevelt kept during his childhood and young adult years. He notes the dates, the subjects, and the locations of the observations kept in each notebook. Cutright focuses on Roosevelt’s love of birding and most of the notebook excerpts deal with this subject. He highlights Roosevelt’s skill at identifying birds by their calls and songs, notes his considerable observation skills, and credits various naturalists and friends who influenced Roosevelt.

Two photographs of Roosevelt as a child and young man and a full-page picture of a mounted snowy owl that Roosevelt prepared accompany the article.

A listing of the officers of the Theodore Roosevelt Association along with the members of the executive, finance, and Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace committees is on page two of the article.

Description of the ceremony surrounding the dedication of new library space at Harvard for the Theodore Roosevelt Collection, a reading alcove, and exhibit space across three separate libraries. The article notes the benefactors for the facilities, the speakers at the ceremony, and provides a brief description of each of the new spaces dedicated to furthering the study of Theodore Roosevelt. It also gives a history of the collection and of the Theodore Roosevelt Association’s role in amassing and safeguarding its contents. The article is accompanied by two pictures which show some of the dignitaries at the ceremony and the other is of a young Roosevelt during his student days at Harvard.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1976

G. Wallace Chessman looks at the evolving historiography of the study of Theodore Roosevelt and places his own work on Roosevelt’s time as Governor of New York within that framework. He asserts that Roosevelt’s reputation suffered in the 1930s with the publication of Henry Pringle’s biography (Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography), but the work of historians such as George Mowry and John Blum served as a correction to Pringle’s work. Chessman argues that the 1930s, with its isolationism in foreign affairs and its hostility to big business, further undermined Roosevelt’s standing.

Chessman argues that as Governor of New York, Roosevelt mostly took stands that should be viewed as “progressive,” and that he successfully navigated a course between obedience to the New York political machine led by Thomas Platt and his own reform agenda. He says that Roosevelt’s time as governor prepared him for the presidency, and he concludes his essay by contending that Roosevelt, however much he loved the American West, should primarily be seen as a man of New York City: “T.R. was surely an urban man.”

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Wallace Finley Dailey provides a brief history of the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard University, noting the collection’s beginnings as an effort of the Roosevelt Memorial Association and initially housed at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace in New York City. He highlights those who have cared for the collection as well as historians who have made use of its resources in their published works. Harvard is currently constructing a new library on its campus, which will allow the collection to be housed in a modern setting.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1975

Historian Ray H. Mattison responds to H. Raymond Gregg, the regional chief of interpretation, regarding a proposal that the National Park Service make an intensive investigation of Theodore Roosevelt’s personal papers in order to gather information to make an archaeological investigation of the Elkhorn Ranch site. Mattison notes that he and others have already made thorough investigations into the relevant materials, and he believes there would be little to gain from retreading the same materials. He agrees, however, that the Elkhorn Ranch deserves a detailed study.

Collection

Midwest Archeological Center

Creation Date

1958-09-22

Howard W. Baker writes to William Cruikshank regarding research at Harvard College Library. Baker is interested in materials related to Theodore Roosevelt’s activities in the Badlands and needs Cruikshank’s permission.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Creation Date

1947-10-24

Allyn F. Hanks writes to Howard W. Baker regarding a typewritten copy of Theodore Roosevelt’s diary from 1886 and a letter from Nora Cordingley of the Harvard Library. Cordingley’s letter explains the omitted portion of the diary.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Creation Date

1950-05-01