Hornblower, Luke R. (Luke Roosevelt)

In “Best Wishes From Oyster Bay,” twenty-six friends, colleagues, and fellow historians offer their thoughts on the life and work of John A. Gable, the Executive Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) and the founder and editor of the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal. Some of the themes that recur are Gable’s support and mentoring of historians and biographers in the early stages of their careers, his encyclopedic knowledge of Theodore Roosevelt, and his promotion of membership in the TRA. The authors also note his unsentimental critique of their work and his fostering a truce between the feuding Oyster Bay and Hyde Park, New York factions of the Roosevelt family. Two of the contributors, William N. Tilchin and Gregory A. Wynn, share some of their correspondence with Gable to demonstrate these themes, and almost all of the contributors highlight Gable’s generosity with his time and talents.

The piece includes a table of contents on its first page and it concludes with brief biographies of each of the authors. Twenty-three photographs populate the text, including twenty of Gable.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2005

List of donors to the Friends of Sagamore Hill which acts as both a cooperating association with Sagamore Hill National Historic Site and the Long Island, New York, chapter of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA). Twenty-seven individuals and two businesses are alphabetically listed under four categories. A photograph of Luke R. Hornblower holding Theodore Roosevelt’s Medal of Honor appears alongside the list. 

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2001

Creator(s)

Unknown

Report on the joint history conference, “The Big Stick and the Square Deal: The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt,” and annual meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) held in Buffalo, New York, in October 2002. The report has three parts: a report on the conference and meeting; a full-page of thirteen photographs showing speakers, attendees, and dignitaries; and a full-page listing of patrons, supporters, and sponsors of the weekend’s events. The report highlights the conferring of the TRA’s Bertha B. Rose Award and its Distinguished Service Medal. The Rose Award was given to three members of Congress who helped secure Theodore Roosevelt’s Medal of Honor while the Distinguished Service Medal was given to the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. 

 

An additional photograph on the first page of the report shows eleven of the conference speakers.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Three biographies–of Holt Collier, Theodore Roosevelt, and Gifford Pinchot–come under scrutiny in the “Reviews” section along with a play and documentary about Roosevelt. Tweed Roosevelt finds the biography of Holt Collier, who led Theodore Roosevelt’s famous 1902 bear hunt, notable for its descriptions of slavery in antebellum Mississippi, but he finds its coverage of Roosevelt flawed. Gregory A. Wynn recommends Kathleen Dalton’s biography Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life for its coverage of Roosevelt’s life after the presidency, its recognition of the important influence women had on his life, and for making Roosevelt “a hero for liberals.” The section also contains an excerpt of a review of Dalton’s work from Kirkus Reviews. 

 

Gary A. Clinton admires Laurence Luckinbill’s play Teddy Tonight for capturing the spirit of Roosevelt in his own words, and he finds that it resonates in a nation reeling from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. A review of The History Channel’s documentary TR: An American Lion lists the “talking head” historians who appear in the film along with members of the Roosevelt family. The review highlights the negative coverage given Roosevelt’s attitudes on race and imperialism, and it praises the actors who provide the film’s narration and voice of Roosevelt. The section concludes with excerpts from four positive reviews of Char Miller’s biography of Gifford Pinchot.

 

Three photographs appear in the section, including a picture of two cast members of TR: An American Lion.

This edition of “News and Notes” opens with news of the History Channel’s production of another documentary film about Theodore Roosevelt. The report provides some details about its production and highlights members of the Roosevelt family who have roles in the film. “News and Notes” highlights the journey of “Bully” the moose from Alaska to Colorado to the USS Theodore Roosevelt; the trophy mount was acquired by members of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA). A posthumous award for Roosevelt from the United States Navy Memorial Foundation and a conservation roundtable sponsored by the TRA receive attention as do a number of personnel changes at Roosevelt related historic sites like Sagamore Hill.

 

The section promotes the TRA’s website, its Theodore Roosevelt CD-ROM, and the association’s next annual meeting. Two photographs from the production of the History Channel documentary and a photograph of Bully the moose with the commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt appear in the section.