Electricity

Architect C. Grant La Farge writes to President Roosevelt about the addition of the North Room to Sagamore Hill. The windows and blinds will be arranged as Roosevelt wishes. La Farge asks a number of questions regarding the types of wood to be used in the room. Some of the wood may be more expensive than Roosevelt can afford, but if this is the case Lafarge has other projects in which he can use it. He also asks if Roosevelt wants the room wired for electricity or gas, and asks that Roosevelt send him a telegram so that La Farge can get things set up before he goes to Washington.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-29

President Roosevelt thanks Major Brown for his letter and apologizes for having little time to reply. He wishes for the “little electric outfit” Brown describes, and plans to ask Major General William Crozier to secure one.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-02-26

Oscar Trombitz proposes a remedy to the anthracite coal monopoly, although it is slower than legal reform. He suggests using tidal energy to generate electricity on the coasts through a cooperative company. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-27

David Mendelson wants to apply for a patent for his invention of free electricity. Mendelson insists his invention will bring “prosperity, peace and plenty” to the people of the United States, especially during a time of natural resource conservation efforts. Mendelson asks Roosevelt for advice regarding getting a patent for his invention.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-05-12

Anna J. Bell comments to Theodore Roosevelt on a variety of disconnected issues, writing about her personal history, her father-in-law, the Democratic Party, and her wish for her children to receive a good education and be taught morals.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-02-24

The change in date is fine with J. Alden Loring. Loring also has fifty feet of cable to make electrical connections if the school does not have electricity.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-01-16

Corrine Roosevelt Robinson is writing on behalf of Jules Montant, the man whose firm was successful in putting electricity into the Washington Printing Offices, and asks President Roosevelt to visit the plant.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-05-13

View of the Electricity Building from Festival Hall at the St. Louis World’s Fair.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1904

Isham G. Harris, Augustus H. Garland, and Joseph E. Johnston, holding hands, complete the circuit of an electrical device operated by a figure labeled “Pan Electric Co.” and “Dr. Rogers.” On the floor at Rogers’ feet are shares of “Pan Electric Co. Stock.” The three men are getting a jolt of electricity that surprises Puck, who is standing on the left, holding his lithographic pencil. A group of men are standing in the background, observing. A wire connected to “Dr. Rogers” runs out a window and connects to the office of the “Bell Telephone Co.” across the street. Caption: Puck – “Dear me! This is really a shocking affair!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1886-02-17

Illustration shows Theodore Roosevelt delivering a jolt of electric current through wires spelling “Presidential Message” to two cats labeled “House” and “Senate” asleep on a wall. Caption: Before and after the current is turned on.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The cartoon of Frank A. Nankivell, illustrating the effect of President Roosevelt’s challenges to Congress, is a play on the popular and ghastly rodenticide of the day, “Rough on Rats.” That product was simple arsenic powder cut with coal dust to provide color, and it was likely that neither Roosevelt nor Nankivell wanted to go that far in insinuation.

A live electrical wire spelling “Vice Presidency” drips red drops as it dangles between potential candidates in the upcoming presidential election: Charles Evans Hughes, Philander C. Knox, Joseph Benson Foraker, George B. Cortelyou, William H. Taft, Joseph Gurney Cannon, and Charles W. Fairbanks. Caption: If you touch it, you’re a dead one.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Why would the vice presidency be regarded as a dangerous “live wire,” something to be avoided, especially by presidential aspirants, especially when the current president had succeeded to the White House as a vice president of an assassinated Chief Executive?

A man labeled “Wilson” wearing rubber gloves labeled “Fearlessness” and “Common Sense” touches a live electric wire that spells out “The Tariff.” In the foreground, Theodore Roosevelt and William H. Taft flee in fear of getting electrocuted. Caption: The live wire and the man with the rubber gloves.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-10-02

Memorandum listing the corporations mentioned in a legislative report on the diversion of the waters of the Niagara River, and describing the privileges granted each corporation and what they paid for such privileges to the state of New York.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-06-04

A debate is underway about providing electric lights for Cove Neck Road, the location of President Roosevelt’s home, Sagamore Hill. Emlen Roosevelt is against the project. He believes the president of the light company wants lights for his house and that the running of electricity up Cove Neck, with the cost charged to property owners along the road, will save him part of the expense. The dogwood is in blossom at Oyster Bay. He enjoyed a recent visit from Anna Roosevelt Cowles and her family.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-05-14