Harvard University. Porcellian Club

Wallace Finley Dailey, Curator of the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard University, describes in detail two exhibits of Theodore Roosevelt material on display in the Theodore Roosevelt Gallery in the Nathan Marsh Pusey Library in 1977. One exhibit covers Roosevelt’s long relationship with Harvard University from his undergraduate student years to his death. The other explores Roosevelt’s relationship with his daughter Ethel Roosevelt Derby. In both exhibit summaries, Dailey quotes extensively from Roosevelt’s letters and speeches and provides descriptions of the photographs used in the exhibits. 

Three photographs and one illustration accompany the article. One photograph shows Dailey examining the exhibit display cases. Another shows Roosevelt with a group of his Harvard classmates, and one shows Derby at the White House in 1902. The illustration is a drawing by Roosevelt’s classmate, Charles G. Washburn, that depicts a monument detailing Roosevelt’s many activities at Harvard. 

President Roosevelt issues a memorandum on his personal relationships with several people, including Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, George H. Lyman, Francis C. Lowell, and Winthrop Murray Crane. Roosevelt seeks to add some additional context to a memorandum by Lodge, and comments on when he came to know these men, and how, if at all, his personal relationships shaped his actions in giving or not giving certain people positions in the administration.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-02-10

Francis R. Appleton thanks President Roosevelt for the signed, hand-written letters that he received from Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-04-11

Kermit Roosevelt describes a recent dinner at the Porcellian Club. Theodore and Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt are having a difficult time regarding the presidential campaign. Edith and Ethel Roosevelt have left for Panama.

Collection

Arizona Historical Society

Creation Date

1912-02-26

Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt is feeling better. She can walk and perform many activities, but some of her senses have not fully returned. Kermit Roosevelt has an upcoming cross country track meet and was accepted into the Porcellian Club. He humorously scolds Isabella Ferguson about her sending a gift back to him and Ethel Roosevelt, and he insists on returning the gift to her.

Collection

Arizona Historical Society

Creation Date

1911-11-17

President Roosevelt encloses $25 as a donation for the Porcellian Club gate. Although fond of both George W. Perkins and Robert Bacon, Roosevelt believes they are wrong about the trust question and knows that William McKinley had been uneasy over the issue.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-10-04

Theodore Roosevelt reached Cambridge, Massachusetts, in “capital health and spirits.” He officiated at the athletic meeting and joined the Porcellian Club. The Sunday school was disorganized but the boys were happy to see him. Roosevelt would like Elliott Roosevelt to send the number for the shoemaker on Broadway.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1878-11-03

Theodore Roosevelt inquires if Robert Grant can “put him up” while he is in Boston for Harvard University events on February 25, 1912.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1912-01-23

Group portrait of 18 members of the Porcellian Club of Harvard College. Theodore Roosevelt is in center row, third from left.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site

Creation Date

1880

Theodore Roosevelt describes for his mother the enjoyment he has had staying with the Saltonstalls, especially Rose and her cousin Alice Hathaway Lee. He describes riding in the cart and playing games. He has fallen behind in school during the last month but intends to make it up.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1879-11-29

Theodore Roosevelt writes his mother all about his social life at Harvard and the people he has visited with including the Saltonstalls and Whitneys. He describes listening to the Glee Club sing on Class Day with Alice Hathaway Lee and being invited by Mr. Whitney to a boat race in New London. He adds he would like to invite some of his friends to New York.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1879-06-22

Theodore Roosevelt expresses how happy he is to get letters from his wife Alice and says he misses her, though he has been so busy writing his naval history and studying law, he would not be good company anyway. He is happy she approves of him going to the Porcellian Club dinner and he says he will be at Chestnut Hill for breakfast.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1881-10-14

Theodore Roosevelt informs his fiancee Alice Hathaway Lee that he must host a Porcellian Club supper and cannot dine with her next Saturday. The ring has come and he cannot wait to put it on her finger and announce their engagement in a week. He expresses how much he loves her.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1880-02-05

President Roosevelt’s cousin, William Emlen Roosevelt, reports on the recovery of his mother, Elizabeth Norris Emlen Roosevelt. William Roosevelt mentions the service pension scheme. He is sending the president John Singer Sargent’s portrait etchings to him for inscription.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-01-29

Francis R. Appleton asks President Roosevelt to inscribe two etchings of John Singer Sargent’s portrait of Roosevelt. One copy is for Appleton’s collection of presidents’ portraits and the other is for Harvard’s Porcellian Club. Appleton also sends three copies for Roosevelt to own.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-01-28

Owen Wister is outraged that Frank R. Frost, Porcellian Club member and Spanish-American War veteran, is not being included in events surrounding President Roosevelt’s upcoming visit to Charleston, South Carolina.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-04-02

Charles Morgan thanks President Roosevelt for the letter and apologizes for not responding sooner. He hopes the Roosevelt family is well and looks forward to possibly seeing Roosevelt at “the dear old Porc.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-10-15

On behalf of Francis R. Appleton and the Porcellian Club, Douglas Robinson calls President Roosevelt’s attention to a subscription the club is running for the construction of the McKean Gate. Sufficient funds are already subscribed, but Robinson thought Roosevelt might want to appear as one of the subscribers.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-10-03