Your TR Source
President Roosevelt meant the Carolina wren, and thanks J. Fletcher Street for pointing out his blunder. He has written to C. Hart Merriam about the wild pigeon matter and he has information of value.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-01-04
President Roosevelt has read Owen Wister’s admirable article. There are a few minor points on which he disagrees, such as the study of economics and government, but these are trivial, and he feels the lesson is exactly the right kind. He hopes to see Wister soon.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-12-31
President Roosevelt addresses the entire editorial board of The Outlook, as he is unsure which particular editor “had his mind all turned askew” by the writings of William J. Long. Roosevelt appreciates The Outlook’s coverage of topics such as the Brownsville Incident, race relations in San Francisco, and railroad rate legislation, but he takes strong exception to The Outlook describing his distaste for Long’s writing a “controversy.” Roosevelt condems Long’s writings and describes him as a “cheap imposter” who does not observe nature but fabricates nature stories that could not possibly happen. Roosevelt takes issue with The Oulook’s assertions about his comments on Long’s writing, and discusses in detail the “mechanical”—not “mathematical”—impossibility of a wolf killing a caribou with a single bite as Long describes. Roosevelt suggests several naturalists in New York the editors can consult in matters of “nature fakers,” and offers to go page by page through one of Long’s books with The Outlook special nature editor.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-03
President Roosevelt has never read nor heard of Briar Patch Philosophy. If Clark wishes to write a letter, Roosevelt wants it to be clear he is not responsible for what Dr. Merriam has said, and the only part of the offending article he corrected were the quotes from his interview. He will republish his article on Nature Fakers in his next volume, directly attacking Reverend Long.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-06-04
Alexander Lambert cannot visit on the day he has suggested, as the White House is full. President Roosevelt also cannot go walking on Sunday as Lambert requested, because there will be crowds and it is the day he rides with Edith Roosevelt. He requests that Lambert speak to C. Hart Merriam in person about the white goat matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-04-20
Regarding the biological survey, President Roosevelt characterizes the actions of outgoing Senator James Wolcott Wadsworth as typical, dirty, and fitting of a “cheap demagog.” Roosevelt will speak with C. Hart Merriam about the matter, and he asks Florence Bayard Lockwood La Farge to have William Dutcher and his Audubon Society contacts mobilize the press and petition their senators as well.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-02-02
President Roosevelt does not feel able to speak on the subject that Dwight W. Huntington wrote to him about, but he heartily endorses C. Hart Merriam’s position and the principles set forth in the circular that Huntington enclosed. Roosevelt believes that in order to conserve wildlife, the men who sell game and hunt for a living must be on the side of conservation.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-13
President Roosevelt cannot understand why magazine editors would have rejected a recent article by his friend Henry Bryant Bigelow. He encourages Bigelow to not let his talents atrophy by becoming too absorbed in collecting materials and writing scientific studies of specific groups. Roosevelt says that “it is not once in a generation that a real scientist is born with the literary touch,” and that Bigelow should not waste his talents.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-06-12
President Roosevelt invites Assistant Secretary of State Bacon and William Phillips to lunch on Tuesday. Several naturalists, as well as the superintendent of Yellowstone National Park and fantasy author James Branch Cabell will be there. He asks if Bacon wants him to invite Charles E. Magoon, the minister to Panama.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-02-04
President Roosevelt “detest[s]…the yellow journalism of the woods,” and identifies author William J. Long as the chief offender. Roosevelt asks Commissioner Macfarland to confirm if Long’s books are being used in Washington, D.C., schools. He urges the Commissioners to seek recommendations for books about the outdoors from credible sources such as John Burroughs and C. Hart Merriam.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-05-29
President Roosevelt has finished reading John Burroughs’s Atlantic Monthly article. He recommends a “slight toning-down” of the statements regarding a mother-bird’s coloration. William J. Long, a “nature faker,” made an attack on John Burroughs in Harper’s Monthly. Roosevelt does not understand how reputable publications encourage Long. Roosevelt comments extensively on animal intelligence and on how animals may or may not teach their young.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-05-29
Senator Dillingham encloses a letter from David Starr Jordan, who is particularly fit to discuss seals. C. Hart Merriam is also qualified.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-03-07
President Roosevelt hopes that C. Hart Merriam’s division can be made a bureau in the Department of Agriculture. He knows that Senator Proctor will fight to secure funding for the transfer and guarding of the last herd of California elk.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-02-20
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt includes for Frederick Selous a pamphlet zoologist C. Hart Merriam sent about a wapiti, or elk, that he has named after Roosevelt. Merriam included a note joking with Roosevelt about a previous argument related to animal classification.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-12-20
President Roosevelt recently spoke with Hart Merriam who supports John Burroughs in his efforts to expose William Long. Roosevelt also wishes Burroughs a merry Christmas.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12-23
After conversations with Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock and C. Hart Merriam, President Roosevelt is convinced that William Atkinson Jones’s position is correct regarding the land leases on Native American reservations.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-04-15
President Roosevelt had been previously warned about an unspecified bill by C. Hart Merriam and asks if he is safe in following Merriam’s advice.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-01-02
If Theodore Roosevelt writes anything, George Bird Grinnell may also be able to get Elihu Root to contribute. Roosevelt will send the mountain lion skulls to Hart Merriam for examination.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-03-13
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt thanks Henry Fairfield Osborn for the note and will look up the article in Science. Roosevelt believes his friend C. Hart Merriam has gone too far in announcing two new species of mountain lion. Roosevelt’s sister has enjoyed being with Osborn and the others at Woods Holl.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-09-14
In a letter to Henry Fairfield Osborn, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt criticizes the taxonomical work of C. Hart Merriam. Roosevelt specifically notes Merriam’s taxonomical splitting of various groups of wapiti, wolves, and coyotes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-05-18