Your TR Source
President Roosevelt believes the continued support of Uncle Remus’s magazine is the memorial Joel Chandler Harris would have wanted most. However, the memorial Mayor Joyner proposes also seems appropriate. While he cannot take an active role in raising such a memorial, Roosevelt will accept an honorary vice presidency on the memorial committee if offered.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-29
President Roosevelt tells Julian LaRose Harris that Mayor Walthall R. Joyner of Atlanta previously wrote to him about a proposal to buy the house of Harris’ father, Joel Chandler Harris, as a monument to him. Roosevelt inquires if Harris and Joyner spoke and reached any conclusion on the matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-20
President Roosevelt asks Will N. Harben to lunch with him at the White House so he can explain why Harben cannot make his letter public. Roosevelt hates to say no, especially as he believes in the message of Harben’s book.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-09-24
President Roosevelt was pleased to see Clark Howell’s father, Evan P. Howell, and appreciated Joel Chandler Harris’s book. Major Hanson and Roosevelt had a very satisfactory meeting.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-10-12
Joel Chandler Harris tells President Roosevelt, “You see–It’s this way about a rabbit–” In Harris’s pocket is the “Story of the Dog Flash.” By Roosevelt’s chair is the book, “Nature Faking by T. Roosevelt,” and behind his chair are two men: “fakir” and “nature fakir.” There are mounted animals: a bear, a moose, a raccoon, a deer, and a mouse. They say, “What’s that?” “Gee whiz!” “Did you hear what that man said?” “The biggest one I ever heard” and “You don’t say so!” respectively. In the foreground is a turtle that says, “I’m a nature fakir myself!”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-19
President Roosevelt describes to Quentin that while he was out riding, he came across a rabbit and terrapin in the road which resembled the characters in the story of “B’rer Rabbit.” Roosevelt draws a rabbit and turtle on the bottom of the letter.
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site
1904-06-21
Francis W. Halsey asks President Roosevelt to review a brief description of himself for any errors. The passage will be part of a volume describing the homes of a number of American authors.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-01-02
Theodore Roosevelt addresses the “negro question,” concerning African American delegates to the National Progressive Convention. Roosevelt deliberately brought into the Progressive Party African American delegates of good character from the Northern states, which was accomplished by encouraging men in the North to act fairly toward their neighbors, giving African Americans the opportunity to earn respect instead of “paying obligation to them” as the Republican Party did in the South. Roosevelt argues that following the course of action taken by the Republican Party, while politically expedient, would ultimately be detrimental to both black men and white men in the South, as well as the Progressive Party itself.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-08-06
Letter of introduction to Julian LaRose Harris, the son of Joel Chandler Harris. Harris was instrumental in campaigning for Theodore Roosevelt in Georgia.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-11-06
Frank Harper writes to Duse Mohamed about the Progressive Party’s position on the negro question. Harper sends a pamphlet that includes a letter written to Julian LaRose Harris, Harris’s response, Theodore Roosevelt’s statement about the negro during his speech at the Progressive Party Convention, and the response of the colored delegates.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-08-29
Theodore Roosevelt describes in detail the challenging issue of race in the Progressive Party, as well as the Republican and Democratic Parties. He says, “We have made the Progressive issue a moral, not a racial issue.” Roosevelt concludes that the Progressive Party, as well as Southern black men, will be best served by appealing to Southern white men who support civil rights.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-08-01
Letter of introduction for Julian LaRose Harris.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-21
Theodore Roosevelt does not want to “fight out” anything with Julian LaRose Harris but wants to discuss matters with him. He acknowledges his position of ease and Harris’s difficulty. When Roosevelt speaks of lynching, he is careful to attack Northerners, not Southerners. The response to Harris’s article makes Roosevelt indignant. He commends Harris for his “most valiant work.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-05
President Roosevelt answers a request by Julian LaRose Harris for presidential memorabilia and congratulates him on successful circulation of his publication, Uncle Remus’s Magazine. Roosevelt demurs to take a political stance on Southern states and other issues until he returns from Africa.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-24
President Roosevelt thanks Ivy L. Lee for the gift of a nicely bound book on Uncle Remus. He looks forward to reading both the sermon by Lee’s father, James W. Lee, as well as Lee’s own character sketch of Joel Chandler Harris.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-31
President Roosevelt tells W. R. Joyner that he would gladly accept a vice presidency in the Uncle Remus Memorial Association, but asks Joyner to first consult with Julian LaRose Harris, son of Joel Chandler Harris, to make sure it receives his approval.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-27
President Roosevelt, responding to a request from Julian LaRose Harris, provides a letter eulogizing Harris’s father, Joel Chandler Harris, for publication in Uncle Remus’s Home Magazine. Roosevelt hopes that Harris will publish his own letter about his father, as well, because although it is personal, it will reach the readers of the magazine, which Joel Chandler Harris founded and Julian LaRose Harris manages, in just the right way.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-17
President Roosevelt is fond of Julian LaRose Harris and would like to help Uncle Remus’s Magazine in the wake of Joel Chandler Harris’s death. Roosevelt does not think that it is very likely he would be able to write a piece for the magazine, as he has already promised articles to several others; but he offers to write a letter for publication, standing in support of the magazine and honoring the memory of Harris’s father. Roosevelt views Uncle Remus’s as not only a Southern magazine, but an American one.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-06
President Roosevelt mourns the death of Julian LaRose Harris’s father, Joel Chandler Harris, not only personally, but for the loss the national as a whole has suffered. Roosevelt believes that Harris’s stories appealed to every corner of the United States, and hopes that the magazine he founded, Uncle Remus’s Magazine, is appreciated by all the citizens of the country. Roosevelt agrees with Joel Chandler Harris that his life would be better memorialized in the continuing success of the magazine than in the construction of a statue.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-06
President Roosevelt sends Julian LaRose Harris a telegram expressing his grief at the death of Joel Chandler Harris, and offering his sympathy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-03