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Governor Roosevelt returns Barbara I. Buchanan’s statement and sends an additional message from President Jacob Gould Schurman of Cornell University. Roosevelt advises Buchanan that any further statements regarding the matter of her doctorate degree should be accompanied by all the enclosed papers.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1900-05-10
Governor Roosevelt sends Cornell University President Schurman some correspondence from Barbara I. Buchanan which he says explains itself. Roosevelt believes that under the circumstances it would be worthwhile to grant her the degree.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1900-05-01
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt asks Judge Francis C. Lowell if outgoing Assistant Secretary of State William Woodville Rockhill can be awarded an honorary degree from Harvard University. Roosevelt considers Rockhill the best assistant secretary of state and recalls that Rockhill explored Tibet, China, for which he received a gold medal from the Royal Geographical Society.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-04-30
William T. Hornaday thanks Theodore Roosevelt for the congratulatory note about Hornaday’s honorary degree from Yale University. The riots in East Saint Louis, Illinois, and personal observations of lawlessness in New York City lead Hornaday to suggest that the American people place too much value on “personal sovereignty.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1917-07-07
As instructed by his government, Mexican Chargé d’Affaires Carlos Pereyra sends Theodore Roosevelt a diploma from the National University of Mexico conferring an honorary doctorate upon him.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06-28
Charles Willis Needham, President of George Washington University, dispatches an honorary degree to President Roosevelt and praises the letter Roosevelt sent to be read in his absence from the ceremony.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-24
On behalf of George Washington University, President Needham awards President Roosevelt an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws in recognition of Roosevelt’s public service. Needham cites several of Roosevelt’s accomplishments, including holding businesses to higher ethical standards, regulating public corporations, and improving industrial conditions, as the reasons behind this conferment.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-18
Endicott Peabody updates President Roosevelt on the management of dental care for Archibald B. Roosevelt, and says he will not press Dr. Oscar Carrabine to turn over the case to Dr. Irving J. Wetherbee. Peabody has sent back the letters from Lord Curzon of Kedleston, which he enjoyed, and he knows Roosevelt will be warmly welcomed when receiving his Doctorate of Civil Law at Oxford.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-09-28
Harvard Dean Byron S. Hurlbut has spoken with Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., as well as spoken about him with Professor Theodore Lyman. They both agree that he has grown in maturity and they are pleased with his progress. He had asked to go away on a trip with Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, but Hurlbut did not consent.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-21
Baron Komura writes to President Roosevelt to say he is feeling better and he would accept an honorary degree from Columbia University.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-09-21
Brander Matthews thanks President Roosevelt for the quotation, which he plans to show to Nicholas Murray Butler. Matthews comments that Elihu Root and Charles Follen McKim received honorary degrees at Columbia University’s commencement. He includes a limerick written by Oliver Herford.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-06-08
Bishop Lawrence informs President Roosevelt that Henry Cabot Lodge’s name has been accepted by the Overseers for an honorary LL.D. degree from Harvard University.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-05-16
Charles J. Bonaparte has received a confidential letter from Bishop Lawrence in favor of an honorary LL.D. for Senator Lodge. Lawrence requested talking points favorable to Lodge to use before the Harvard Board of Overseers.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-05-09
Senator Lodge thanks William Loeb for his two notes that included letters from Judge Robert Grant and Charles Bonaparte. This appears to be in regards to Lodge’s honorary LL.D. degree from Harvard.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-05-06
William Amos Bancroft assures President Roosevelt he will support the awarding of the degree of LL.D. for Senator Henry Cabot Lodge.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-05-04
Probate Court Judge Robert Grant, who also served as an overseer of Harvard University, informs President Roosevelt that he believes the other overseers will support his recommendation of presenting Senator Lodge with an honorary degree.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-05-03
Report on the Theodore Roosevelt Association’s Bertha B. Rose Award. The report includes a biography of Bertha Benkard Rose that emphasizes her work in historic preservation, especially at Sagamore Hill. The report also includes brief notices about the twelve past winners of the award dating back to 1982, and it highlights the work of the 2003 recipient, Michael L. Manson. A text box lists all of the winners of the Rose Award, and the report also includes a list of the seventeen colleges and universities that granted Theodore Roosevelt honorary degrees from 1899 to 1917. A paragraph on Roosevelt’s history with New York City concludes the section.
A photograph of Manson with the commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt accompanies the report.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
2004
Theodore Roosevelt sends Flavel Sweeten Luther, President of Trinity College, a letter he received from Russell J. Coles. Roosevelt has great respect for Coles, a great naturalist regarding sharks and other fish, and wonders if it would be possible for Trinity College to award him an honorary degree as Doctor of Science.
1917-06-07
Russell J. Coles tells Theodore Roosevelt his plan for assisting the war effort, since he has not succeeded in getting into the Army or Navy. Coles intends to reduce the high cost of living by increasing the supply of food and leather from sources which are now going to waste. He will identify sharks, rays, or other fish suitable either for eating or for the production of leather. Coles will go to North Carolina to study this question, and he plans to publish an article with his findings. He feels that having a doctorate would lend additional weight to his findings, and he asks Roosevelt if he would be able to help him acquire an honorary degree in order to advance this cause.
1917-06-04
Theodore Roosevelt calls William S. Cogswell’s attention to Russell J. Coles, whose name has been suggested for an honorary degree by Trinity College. Roosevelt is interested in Coles’s past work in the field of ichthyology, and tells Cogswell about his current investigation into whether sharks and rays can be possible food sources. Roosevelt hopes Cogswell can endorse Coles’s nomination for an honorary degree.
1917-09-12