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Historian Ray H. Mattison reviews his trip to the East Coast where he visited the Theodore Roosevelt Association and William Wingate Sewall’s daughters, Nancy Sewall Cunningham and Harriett S. Harmon. He inventories the items he viewed related to Theodore Roosevelt’s time in the North Dakota Badlands.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
1959-01-22
This four page edition of “News and Notes” is divided into six sections and is mostly concerned with a series of celebrations and commemorations of the 125th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt’s birth. The article details the celebrations held in Indianapolis, Indiana, in New York State in New York City, Oyster Bay, and Buffalo, and at Harvard University. The Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace hosted events as did the American Museum of Natural History. Oyster Bay held a parade while the Indianapolis gathering saw the planting of a tree at the home of Roosevelt’s Vice President, Charles W. Fairbanks. The meeting at the American Museum of Natural History saw the awarding of the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal to four recipients. A dinner was held in Buffalo while at Harvard, John Morton Blum gave a lecture.
The article also discusses the 1983 Theodore Roosevelt Public Speaking Contest for the New York City public high schools held at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace, and it details the premiere of the documentary film The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. “News and Notes” closes with an obituary for Helen M. MacLachlan who worked for both the Theodore Roosevelt Association and the National Park Service at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace in New York City.
A photograph from the Oyster Bay parade and two photographs of members of the Roosevelt family at Theodore Roosevelt Island in Washington, D.C., are included in the article.
This edition of “News and Notes,” seven pages in length, is divided into six sections. “TR Quasquicentennial Year Ends” covers events marking the 125th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt’s birth at venues in Indianapolis, Indiana, Oyster Bay and Buffalo, New York, Harvard University, and the National Archives in Washington, D.C. It notes that the final event of the celebration year was appropriately held at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace in New York City, and it highlights some of the lectures and interviews given by John A. Gable, Executive Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA), during 1983. An illustration of both sides of the TRA medallion and a photograph from the 125 Anniversary Dinner in New York City supplement the section.
The “Annual Meeting of the TRA Board of Trustees” examines the financial health of the TRA and notes that there needs to be an increase of revenue for the Association. It also covers changes to the By-Laws of the TRA regarding membership categories and terms for members of the Board of Trustees. It closes by noting the governance of the TRA and listing its officers and members of the Executive Committee.
“Filming ‘The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt'” discusses the production of this documentary film and highlights the narration provided by actor George C. Scott and the music of John Philip Sousa. It notes its fluid mixing of reenactments and archival film footage. A photograph of the Roosevelt family as portrayed by actors and descendants and one of Gable in a cameo role accompany the section.
In “TR and the Wall Street Journal,” Gable attacks an article written by Art Pine of the Journal about the history of debt collection from foreign nations because of its sometimes “misleading” and “false” statements about Roosevelt. Gable enlists the work of historians Barbara Tuchman and Frederick W. Marks to refute some of Pine’s reporting.
P. James Roosevelt, President of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA), provides a detailed look at the activities of the TRA during 1974, noting the significant financial donations the TRA made to various entities such as the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard University, the Youngs Memorial Cemetery in Oyster Bay, New York where Theodore Roosevelt is buried, and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. He highlights the hiring of John A. Gable to serve as the Executive Director of the TRA. Several of the initiatives noted here are described in some detail in brief notices in the rest of the issue. This piece also includes a listing of the leadership of the TRA.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1975