Harriman, Edward Henry, 1848-1909

Gregory A. Wynn explores the life of American photographer Edward S. Curtis who photographed Theodore Roosevelt’s family in 1904 and 1905. Wynn argues that Curtis’s 1904 portrait “is the single best studio photograph” of Roosevelt. Wynn details Curtis’s decades long struggle to photograph, write, and produce his multi-volume The North American Indian, and he highlights the roles played by Roosevelt and J. Pierpont Morgan in promoting and financing the project. In an addendum to his essay, Wynn notes that the Roosevelt collection of his friend Peter Scanlan came to auction, and he highlights the sale of pieces that have been featured in previous editions of his material culture column. 

Five Curtis photographs supplement the text along with the title page of The North American Indian and illustrations of three items from the Scanlan auction. 

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

John A. Gable reviews Looking for North: The Harriman Expedition to Alaska, 1899 by William H. Goetzmann and Kay Sloan. Gable focuses on the cast of famous figures, like John Muir and Edward S. Curtis, many of them friends of Theodore Roosevelt, who joined Edward Harriman’s scientific expedition.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1983

Newspaper clipping of cartoon showing Theodore Roosevelt depicted as a schoolmaster holding a big stick behind his back, saying “Will the young lad at the head of the class tell me what he knows about railroads. Med depicted as school boys are labeled Harriman, Morgan, Rogers, Newman, Hughitt, Mellen and McCrea. The students represent railroad officials and the cartoon refers to Roosevelts efforts to regulate railroads.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1903

In this chapter excerpt from his book John Muir and His Legacy: The American Conservation Movement, Stephen Fox examines efforts to expand Yosemite National Park, the battle between preservationists and conservationists over the use of forests, and provides portraits of John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, John Burroughs, and Theodore Roosevelt. He looks at the work undertaken by the conservation movement to preserve Niagara Falls, the redwood forests of California, and Mount Desert Island in Maine. Fox concludes the chapter with a look at the battle over the city of San Francisco’s desire to build a dam at the southern end of Hetch Hetchy valley in Yosemite National Park. In addition to looking at the life and work of Muir, the chapter provides information on many lesser known figures in the turn of the twentieth-century conservation movement.

A listing of the officers and the members of the executive, finance, and Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace committees of the Theodore Roosevelt Association is found on the second page of the excerpt.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Reverend McGuinness, who served as Edward Henry Harriman’s pastor at his estate, Arden House, remembers Harriman as a church and community member. The Harriman the people at Arden knew is different than the railroad magnate the public knew. The article includes a facsimile of a letter Harriman wrote McGuinness apologizing for missing church.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-08-01

The writer of the article draws parallels between corruption and graft in politics and the corrupt practices that allow big businesses to accumulate and control most of the money in the country. The article quotes heavily from an article in Everybody’s Magazine by Lincoln Steffens that criticizes the few rich businessmen who control most of the capital of the country. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-02-10

President Roosevelt is dressed as an angel and blesses Louis Frisbie Payn. Beside Roosevelt is a “list of the forgiven”: “Morgan. Hill (J. J.) Gould. Harriman. Addicks. Platt. Black. Odell.” The door reads, “White House private—admittance by invitation only. T. R.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-01

President Roosevelt pets a cat with New York Senator Thomas Collier Platt’s face as he holds a “list of smoothed downers” in his other hand: “Morgan. Hill (J. J.) Gould. Harriman. Addicks. Black. Odell. Payn. Platt.” On the wall is a sign: “Oyster Bay. Notice. Smoothing down done with neatness and despatch. T. R.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-17

President Roosevelt wears an olive branch crown and rides in a chariot followed by “Trusts,” “Morgan,” “Foraker,” “Bryan,” “Rockefeller,” “Tillman,” “Harriman,” “Haskell,” “Hearst,” “Pulitzer,” “Congress,” a “stork,” “undesirable citizens,” “grafters,” “muckrakers,” and “nature fakirs.” A dove tries to escape the “peace” cage.

comments and context

Comments and Context

As the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt drew to a close — seven years and several months, instead of the normal eights years, as Roosevelt assumed office upon the death of President William McKinley — cartoonist Jay N. “Ding” Darling drew a valedictory summation of the president’s triumphs.

President Roosevelt walks out of a room with an “Ananias Club” door holding L. White Busbey in his right hand and Minnesota Representative James A. Tawney on top of his big stick in his left hand. Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon reads a “6000 word message to Congress” and is confused. Edward Henry Harriman and William Jennings Bryan watch from the door.

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Comments and Context

The dispute over the Secret Service’s expanded duties was a controversy that subsumed other matters between President Roosevelt and Congress at the end of his administration; and technically it was the dispute itself, and not the Secret Service, that was the issue in Washington (and in political cartoons).

Minnesota Representative James A. Tawney and Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon use a crosscut saw and Iowa Representative Walter I. Smith uses a hatchet to cut “Roosevelt’s big stick” into pieces. “Congress” holds a gun to a “Secret Service” dog and says, “Halt” while a group of men look on: Edward Henry Harriman, a “gov’t grafter,” a “trust,” a “gov’t land grabber,” and a “timber thief.” The United States Capitol building is in the background.

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Comments and Context

An inevitable aspect of lame-duck politicians is that opponents generally can be freed of threats of retaliation. As President Roosevelt essentially made himself a four-year lame duck by declining in advance to succeed himself with the election-night announcement in 1904, he brought a challenge upon himself. Uniquely, much of the reform president’s opposition came from within his own party, the Republicans’ Old Guard.

President Roosevelt wears a mask and sits at a desk with Secret Service reports. On the wall are “Rogue’s Gallery no. 1–Members of Congress,” a “list of undesirable citizens–Harriman, Rockefeller, Foraker, Haskell, and Tilman,” and a March 1909 calendar. On the other wall is a sign–“Old Sleuth Hawkshaw & Co.: Private Investigations. Shadowing”–and some disguises, including “mollycoddle masks,” “Ananias masks,” “malefactors of great wealth,’ and a coat “for the frivolous judge disguise.” On the ground are “gum shoes” and a “Muck Rake” cat.

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Comments and Context

As President Roosevelt’s term drew to a close, many Democratic cartoonists who had routinely criticized him continued without abatement. Other partisans seized the opportunity to increase their level of bitterness and ridicule while he was on his way out.

In the top left hand corner, “Ananias” and “Munchausen” speak. Ananias says, “Our Congressmen and Senators are poor but honest. To my personal knowledge they would scorn to hire out to trusts and monopolies.” Munchhausen says, “The delicate and retiring modesty of the president would make it impossible for him to assume any authority not given him by the Constitution.” Caption: A–Prominent liars who have inside information regarding fight between President and Congress. In the top right hand corner, two letters are visible. One reads: “My dear Senator, Our Trust is overjoyed at your good work for us in Congress. I enclose check as per your request. Archbold.” The other reads: “My dear Harriman, You and I are practical men. Come and see me after dark and bring some campaign funds. Knock once and whistle three times. T. R.” Caption: B–Important documents which have mysteriously disappeared. In the middle on the left side, “Congress” and President Roosevelt step on “the common people,” who says, “Lemme up. Caption: C–Innocent bystander who is endangered by fight. In the middle on the right side, “Crooked Trusts and Corporations” laughs with arrows pointing to his face. Caption: D–Interested party greatly worried over outcome of fight. (Arrows show expression of anxiety). At the bottom, Roosevelt talks to the “Secret Service Dep’t.” He says, “Meet me in the ruined mill at midnight with evidence against the Senators and Congressmen. Remem-bar-r!” The “Secret Service Dep’t” replies, “I will be ther-r-re!” Caption: F–Scene from forthcoming melodrama entitled “Why Senator Scrubbs Left Home, or No Mother to Guide Him.”

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Comments and Context

The brilliant Frederick Burr Opper, often called “The Mark Twain of Cartooning,” was on one of the most influential political cartoonists of his generation; his career spanned the 1870s to the 1930s. Prominent outlets he appeared in were Puck magazine until 1899, and the newspapers of William Randolph Hearst until 1932.

President Roosevelt sits in the White House attic with a variety of items: ears of corn with the label of “presidential tips to farmers,” a picture of Edward Henry Harriman with “my dear Harriman” crossed out and replaced with “undesirable citizen,” “the big stick,” several books, including “How to choose a successor,” a crib “for larger families,” and a coffin of a “nature faker.” Roosevelt holds a book entitled, “Science of Pseudology.” Caption: Mr. Roosevelt–“I wonder how much of this stuff Bill wants me to leave behind.”

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Comments and Context

The brilliant but largely forgotten body of cartoons that W. A. Carson drew for the front pages of the Utica Saturday Globe — centered, below the masthead and dateline, always in bright colors — often were accompanied by perfectly superfluous printed explanations. Carson’s work was so direct and documentary that written guides were useless; and the work of the anonymous editor was invariably vapid and redundant.

President Roosevelt puts his arm around Edward Henry Harriman as they both say, “Comrades, comrades.” In the background, there is an axe through the “Sherman Anti-Trust Law.”

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Comments and Context

One of the earliest notable acts of President Roosevelt’s administration was the suit against the Northern Securities Company. Although financier J. P. Morgan was affected, the rivalries of railroad barons Edward Henry Harriman and James J. Hill were exacerbated and threatened; and attempts to cooperate (or collude) were stymied by what became known as Roosevelt’s “trust-busting.”

In the first vignette, President Roosevelt holds his rifle as a lion runs away. An African man says, “Golly, dat was a bad shot, boss!” Roosevelt replies, “Liar!” In the second, two African men say, “Let us into your tent, boss, we’se most froze out here!” Roosevelt replies, “Milksops and mollycoddles!” In the third vignette, an African man says, “Dat’s a fine ump you shot, boss!” Roosevelt replies, “Nature fakir! It’s a ring tailed owk!” In the fourth vignette, an African king says, “Oogle ig uppy woof,” and an African man translates, “His majesty says he’ll have to charge you two bushels of beans to hunt in his country.” Roosevelt replies, “Tell him he is a sinister offender and a man with hard face and a soft body.” In the fifth, an African man says, “Say, boss, between ourselves, did you really write that letter to Harriman?” Roosevelt replies, “Muckraker! Shut up or I’ll beat you to a frazzle!” In the sixth, an African man says, “Boss I’se got to have more wages!” Roosevelt replies, “You’re an undesirable citizen and you’re fired!”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Even with more than two months before he would retire from the presidency, many people — not least the corps of cartoonists — speculated on Theodore Roosevelt’s upcoming safari to Africa. It was not merely another aspect of the omnivore Roosevelt, nor the prospect of a very public man choosing to disappear from headlines for a year. The concept of almost any American save a few iconic explorers, plunging into what was then known (or unknown, literally) as the “Dark Continent” was something that attracted the attention, and inspired the imaginations, of an entire population.

President Roosevelt is strapped to a “condemnation” diving board across the “criticism” river. Roosevelt holds his big stick and says, “This is slanderous, villainous, scurrilous, vicious—-!!” Joseph Pulitzer and Edward Henry Harriman cheer as Harriman holds the “Ananias Club” flag. William MacKay Laffan is lying face up on the ground chuckling, “Ha-ha!” while Henry Melville Whitney says, “Let ‘er go!”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Edward Joseph McBride was among several political cartoonists at the close of Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency who seemed to find daily opposition a habit difficult to break. Cartoons like this one were not about specific issues, but virtually served as compendiums of complaints that had provided Democratic cartoonists with subjects for years.

Supreme Court Justice Holmes presents the opinion of the court regarding several appeals from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York involving the Interstate Commerce Commission, Edward Henry Harriman and Otto H. Kahn. Holmes rules that the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission to compel testimony is limited, and only applies when conducting investigations into specific breaches of the law.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-14

William E. Chandler expresses his complete confidence that the Republicans will be victorious and President Roosevelt will win reelection. Thanks to Alton B. Parker’s blunder in sending a telegram about the gold standard, the only thing that could cause Roosevelt to lose is the perception that he is taking too much money from magnates like J. Pierpont Morgan, Edward Henry Harriman, and Henry Clay Frick.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-10

Edward Henry Harriman’s name is underlined in a list of stockholders of the First National Bank of Deadwood, South Dakota.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-02-03