Hagedorn, Hermann, 1882-1964

Report on the annual meeting for 1977 of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA). The report details the ceremonies of the meeting with an emphasis on the awarding of the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal to Ethel Derby Roosevelt and the passing of the presidency of the TRA from P. James Roosevelt to Judge Howard T. Hogan. The report details the events of the meeting by noting the speakers and the reports given by the TRA leadership. It also provides brief biographies of P. James Roosevelt and Hogan.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1978

Citation for the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal awarded to Ethel Roosevelt Derby, eldest daughter of Theodore Roosevelt, in October 1977 by P. James Roosevelt. The citation recognizes her service as a nurse in World War I, her role as a trustee of the American Museum of Natural History, and her work on behalf of various causes in Oyster Bay, New York. The citation strives to give a sense of Mrs. Derby’s personality and how she employed it in service of preserving the memory of her father, President Roosevelt.

A picture of Ethel Roosevelt as a child with her father and another showing her receiving her Distinguished Service Medal accompany the citation.

John A. Gable reports on the work and achievements of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) for 1977. He notes a rise in membership and dues during the past year and discusses the many requests for help that the TRA office received from those pursuing work on Theodore Roosevelt. The report provides brief summaries of the work of the TRA that is covered in more detail in separate articles in this and past issues, such as the renovation and restoration of the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site and the visit to the White House by a delegation from the TRA.

The report also covers the annual student contests sponsored by the TRA, the research grants awarded by the American Museum of Natural History, the Association’s support of Youngs Memorial Cemetery and the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary for birds in Oyster Bay, and publications, such as the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal, produced by the TRA.

Advertisement for the book Sagamore Hill: An Historical Guide published by the Theodore Roosevelt Association. The ad gives a brief overview of the history of the home, talks about the book’s authors, Hermann Hagedorn and Gary G. Roth, and describes in detail the contents of the book. A picture of the book’s cover accompanies the text.

An order form is included at the bottom of the page.

John A. Gable discusses the publication of two books on Theodore Roosevelt.  Sagamore Hill: An Historical Guide was published by the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) and Memories of the American Frontier, a collection of Roosevelt’s writings on the American West, was issued by the Westvaco Corporation. Gable notes the individuals and organizations that helped bring both works to publication. He mentions that author David McCullough visited the offices of the TRA, and he closes with more tributes to Ethel Derby Roosevelt who died on December 10, 1977.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1978

Reprint of an article originally published in the New York Herald Tribune which describes the dedication ceremonies at Sagamore Hill in June 1953 which featured an address by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The article names some of the prominent guests, quotes from Eisenhower’s brief speech, and describes some aspects of the ceremony such as the presentation of a flag and flag pole for the historic site by the Boy Scouts.

A photograph of President Eisenhower standing in the back of an open car passing through Oyster Bay, New York on his way to Sagamore Hill accompanies the article.

Remarks by President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the dedication of Sagamore Hill as a historical site in June 1953. Eisenhower read a proclamation declaring a “Theodore Roosevelt Week” in the United States, and in his brief remarks he challenged the stereotype of Roosevelt as an impetuous leader, saying that he was “not a swash-buckler,” and that he engaged in “patient work.”

A picture of President Eisenhower receiving a framed manuscript written by Roosevelt from Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Association Director Hermann Hagedorn on the porch at Sagamore Hill accompanies the article.

Advertisement for the book Sagamore Hill: An Historical Guide published by the Theodore Roosevelt Association. The ad gives a brief overview of the history of the home, talks about the book’s authors, Hermann Hagedorn and Gary G. Roth, and describes in detail the contents of the book. A picture of the book’s cover accompanies the text.

An order form is included at the bottom of the page.

In this edition of “Notes from the Executive Director…,” John A. Gable reviews and praises an article on President Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy by historian Frederick W. Marks III that appeared in Diplomatic History. Gable notes that the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) has printed the citation that accompanied Ethel Roosevelt Derby’s TRA Distinguished Service Medal. He notes the publication of a guide book to Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, describes the Roosevelt gallery in the headquarters of the Roosevelt Savings Bank in Garden City, New York, and lists the talks he gave in his capacity as Executive Director of the TRA. He congratulates author David McCullough for winning the National Book Award for his work on the Panama Canal and lists the TRA publications that preceded the publication of the TRA Journal.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1978

Advertisement for the book Sagamore Hill: An Historical Guide published by the Theodore Roosevelt Association. The ad gives a brief overview of the history of the home, talks about the book’s authors, Hermann Hagedorn and Gary G. Roth, and describes in detail the contents of the book. A picture of the book’s cover accompanies the text.

An order form is included at the bottom of the page.

History of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) that highlights the role the TRA played in preserving Theodore Roosevelt’s homes in New York City and Oyster Bay, New York along with Theodore Roosevelt Island in Washington, D.C. The TRA later transferred all of these historic sites to the National Park Service. The article covers the TRA’s work with Harvard University and the Library of Congress in collecting and preserving  papers, books, and film on Roosevelt, and it covers the Association’s support of natural history grants awarded by the American Museum of Natural History. Many of the books either published or supported by the TRA are listed. The past Presidents and Directors of the TRA are listed, and aspects of the TRA’s governance and finance are noted.  

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1978

Architectural historian James Sanders gives a detailed report on the East 20th Street Revitalization Project which aimed to reinvigorate the neighborhood surrounding the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site in New York City. Most of the work involved cleaning and painting buildings, planting trees, and installing new signage. Sanders gives a history of the Roosevelt Birthplace, detailing the neighborhood’s decline as the area moved from residential to light industrial use. He looks at the plans to revitalize the neighborhood and credits the various individuals, private entities, government bureaus, and corporations that contributed to the project.

The article has two accompanying photographs: one shows the exterior of the Birthplace at 28 East 20th Street in New York City and the other shows Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt IV with their son on the front steps of the Birthplace.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

History of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) that highlights the role the TRA played in preserving Theodore Roosevelt’s homes in New York City and Oyster Bay, New York along with Theodore Roosevelt Island in Washington, D.C. The TRA later transferred all of these historic sites to the National Park Service. The article covers the TRA’s work with Harvard University and the Library of Congress in collecting and preserving  papers, books, and film on Roosevelt, and it covers the Association’s support of natural history grants awarded by the American Museum of Natural History. The past Presidents and Directors of the TRA are listed, and aspects of the TRA’s governance and finance are noted.  

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1977

History of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) that highlights the role the TRA played in preserving Theodore Roosevelt’s homes in New York City and Oyster Bay, New York along with Theodore Roosevelt Island in Washington, D.C. The TRA later transferred all of these historic sites to the National Park Service. The article covers the TRA’s work with Harvard University and the Library of Congress in collecting and preserving  papers, books, and film on Roosevelt, and it covers the Association’s support of natural history grants awarded by the American Museum of Natural History. The past Presidents and Directors of the TRA are listed, and aspects of the TRA’s governance and finance are noted.  

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1977

This notice describes the ceremonies marking the dedication of a bird sanctuary on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts in honor of Hermann Hagedorn, a historian and long-time Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA). The article reprints the inscription on the plaque marking the sanctuary, summarizes the speeches given, and talks about Hagedorn’s work with the TRA and as a writer.  

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1977

John A. Gable describes in detail the life and work of Hermann Hagedorn, historian, biographer, and long-time Director of the Roosevelt Memorial Association and its successor, the Theodore Roosevelt Association. Gable covers Hagedorn’s life as a child of German immigrants in Brooklyn, New York, his education and teaching at Harvard, and his early career as a writer and poet. He notes Hagedorn’s difficulties as a German-American during World War I and the start of his friendship with Theodore Roosevelt that would define his career. Gable traces Hagedorn’s leadership of the Roosevelt Memorial Association over nearly four decades, discusses his many publications on Roosevelt, and looks at his other writings, including a number of biographies and many works of poetry.

Two photographs accompany this article. One is a formal portrait of Hagedorn and the other shows Hagedorn with President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the dedication of Sagamore Hill in June 1953.

John A. Gable recaps some of the items presented in this issue of the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal by noting the visit to the White House by a delegation from the Theodore Roosevelt Association, his visit to Camp Bronco Junction for asthmatic children, and the dedication of a memorial bird sanctuary to Hermann Hagedorn. He details the additions that have been made to the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard, lists the donors of materials, and notes the many requests for use of items in the collection.  

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1977

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

Oscar S. Straus II, president of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, hosts the annual awards ceremony. Hermann Hagedorn, executive director, introduces Arthur Holly Compton, a nuclear physicist, and Thomas E. Dewey, Governor of New York, recipients of the Distinguished Service Medals in Science and Public Service. In their acceptance speeches, Compton speaks on public service and the importance of a free society working together towards a unified goal, as was done during the second world war, and Dewey speaks on the worldwide application of the “American Dream,” and the shifting struggles between the United States and the Soviet Union. Additional brief remarks are presented by Anne Lyon Haight, who comments on an upcoming merger of the Theodore Roosevelt Association and the Women’s Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Association.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association

Creation Date

1955-10-27

Ray H. Mattison describes the methodology used to try to discover the exact location of Theodore Roosevelt’s Elkhorn Ranch. Mattison includes a historical background of the ranch, from its original construction and occupation by Roosevelt, William Wingate Sewall and Wilmot S. Dow, through its later abandonment and deconstruction. The primary method used by Mattison to determine the site of the Elkhorn was through a comparative study of photographs between those taken by Roosevelt in 1886 and contemporary photographs Mattison took in 1949. Additionally, Mattison interviewed a number of “Old Timers,” who were familiar with the Elkhorn Ranch, and who were able to corroborate the conclusions he came to based on the photographs.

Collection

Midwest Archeological Center

Creation Date

1950-01