Monuments

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1917-10-30

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Recipient

Backus, Alexander

On behalf of Theodore Roosevelt, his secretary informs Robert T. Walker that Roosevelt knows nothing of the matter, therefore it would be of no use for Walker to come by since Roosevelt has no influence over the commission of the monument mentioned.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-24

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.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-08-20

President Roosevelt will gladly support the monument to James Fenimore Cooper and suggests that Thomas R. Lounsbury contact Brander Matthews for additional help. Roosevelt would be pleased if Lounsbury could visit Washington, D.C. next winter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-03

President Roosevelt tells S. A. Clark that he would need to locate the request for Congress to appropriate money to monuments before he can answer his letter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-18

President Roosevelt wishes success to Harry Armitage Conant in his endeavor to erect a monument in honor of General George A. Custer.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-16

Hoke Smiths invites Theodore Roosevelt to give a speech for a monument unveiling in Atlanta on October 10th.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-19

Ezra Meeker sends Theodore Roosevelt a copy of his booklet The Lost Trail and offers to send another copy of his book The Ox Team while seeking Roosevelt’s support for funding to place granite markers along the Oregon Trail.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-11

Thomas R. Lounsbury informs President Roosevelt that he will let him know when the Cooper committee needs the president’s assistance in erecting a monument. Lounsbury also accepts an invitation to visit the White House, especially since he has recently become an emeritus professor and is able to travel more now.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-13

Solomon C. Dickey, President of the Winona Technical Institute, sends President Roosevelt a copy of the Institute’s catalog and hopes he will have a chance to read it on his way to Indianapolis. He believes Roosevelt’s presence at the convention will bring public awareness to trade schools and influence that will bring about an educational board that promotes trade schools at a national level.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-03-28

President Roosevelt–holding a “big stick” and dressed in knight’s armor–sits atop a horse decked in medieval armor on statue pedestal labeled “Saint Louis.” His shield reads, “To the front. 14 ft thro’ the valley.”

Comments and Context

The occasion of this cartoon was President Roosevelt’s passage, after speaking in Keokuk, Iowa, on a stern-wheel steamboat down the Mississippi River, past St. Louis, Missouri; and Cairo, Illinois. It was a boat of great size and displacement (atop which was a large “Texas,” the control and steering cabin, from which the president surveyed river and shorelines every mile), hence the cartoonist’s awkward legend on the shield. Roosevelt noted that the river was so muddy and shallow and narrow in spots that its seemed like a ravine, and he marveled at the ship’s ability to navigate.

Among the support and attending vessels was a boat with seventeen governors who would be conferring with the president on his tour of the Midwest and South.

General Nelson A. Miles tries to push over a monument that states “To the Army in the Philippines in Recognition of a Difficult Task, Well Done.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

General Nelson A. Miles was one of his generation’s most active and decorated soldiers who had not graduated from West Point. He was twice wounded and in the middle of important Civil War conflicts; he was a famous Indian fighter, leading Army troops after notable Indian warriors and tribes (and implicated in some brutalities), served in the Spanish-American War in Cuba and Puerto Rico. He managed to be, throughout his career, however, frequently in the midst of controversy.

Senator Mark Hanna draws a life-sized portrait of himself as a Greek or Roman statesman. Two men labeled “Capital” and “Labor” stand nearby. In the background is a large monument stating “In memory of the man who reconciled Labor and Capital.” Caption: “I would want no greater memorial than to have the world remember that I did something to end the wars between American capital and American labor” – From speech by Senator Hanna.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Despite the ambitions of Senator Marcus Hanna as quoted in this cartoon, there was widespread skepticism of, at least, his beneficent attitude toward labor. The perception was in large measure established in the public’s mind, and history’s judgment, by cartoonists. Keppler’s profile here is mild compared to the unrelenting and famed caricatures of Homer Davenport, chief political cartoonist of the Hearst newspapers. Taking advantage of Hanna’s first name, he drew the senator in garish checked suits with dollar signs in every square; hence the nickname “Dollar Mark.” Davenport frequently drew Hanna as a virtual cannibal, feasting on the carcasses of American laborers. Keppler, here, was mild in comparison.

A female figure, draped in black, mourns over the tomb of Queen Victoria.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1901-02-13

President Roosevelt addresses the crowd at the dedication of the Roosevelt Dam in Arizona and tells them about how the dam came to be. He knows the value of irrigation to the west, and through hard work, he was able to convince the east of the necessity of irrigation. Roosevelt congratulates all of the people involved with the construction of the dam and reflects on the honor of having the dam named after him. He considers the two material achievements he is most proud of in his administration to be the construction of the Panama Canal and the irrigation work in the western United States. Roosevelt also further reflects on what it means to be a citizen and the duty of Americans.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-18

Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary informs Caspar Whitney that there is no organization collecting funds to the monument of Frederic Remington. Homer Davenport was doing most of the fundraising, and the secretary suggests Whitney get in contact with his estate. Theodore Roosevelt would really like Whitney to bring the matter to completion.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-05-29

Theodore Roosevelt is pleased with Farnham Bishop’s success and is sure his parents are too. He thinks the monument should be at Panama itself.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-31

Theodore Roosevelt hopes the movement to restore the Boonsboro monument to George Washington is successful.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-25

Theodore Roosevelt compliments Gutzon Borglum’s Seated Lincoln bronze statue in Newark, New Jersey. He is glad he had the opportunity to participate in the unveiling of the statue.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-06-02

Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary tells Ralph Emerson Lum that there are no people whom Roosevelt would particularly like to be at the unveiling of the Lincoln Monument on Memorial Day. Roosevelt will leave the distribution of the invitations entirely up to Lum. Roosevelt’s secretary also thanks Lum for sending the clipping from the Sunday Call.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-05-25