Your TR Source
Excerpt from the Library of Congress Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions, Fifteenth Anniversary Issue, including “Some Thoughts on the Roosevelt Papers” by Elting Elmore Morison and the “Catalog of the Theodore Roosevelt Centennial Exhibit.”
1958-05
Gregory A. Wynn interviews the author of Theodore Roosevelt’s Ghost, Michael Patrick Cullinane. Cullinane describes his book as a work of historiography, and he addresses issues such as the efforts to memorialize Theodore Roosevelt that failed in the immediate years after his death. Cullinane also touches on the evolving reputation of American presidents, and he highlights the importance of the work of historians Henry F. Pringle and Elting Elmore Morison. Cullinane recommends that the Theodore Roosevelt Association continue to spend money on projects that further research on Roosevelt. A photograph of Wynn, Cullinane, and Tweed Roosevelt accompanies the text of the interview.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
2018
Tweed Roosevelt provides two lists of books about Theodore Roosevelt. He lists what he considers to be the five best books to introduce Roosevelt to newcomers, and he also lists fifty books that he classifies as essential to those wanting “a well-rounded education” on Roosevelt. He lists the five books for newcomers in a a paragraph in the text, but the fifty essential books are numbered and placed in alphabetical order by the author’s or editor’s last name with publication dates ranging from 1906 to 2010. The front cover illustrations to four titles supplement the text.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
2011
Gregory A. Wynn discusses the origins of his hobby of collecting items related to Theodore Roosevelt, and he uses this as an introduction to examine a letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George Otto Trevelyan which had not been previously known or published. Wynn highlights the sensitive nature of the letter’s contents as it reveals Roosevelt’s thoughts and actions during a number of diplomatic crises during his presidency. Wynn also notes how the Trevelyan letter was shared with and was part of Roosevelt’s correspondence with his friend David Gray. Wynn asserts that the letters provide a “revealing snapshot of presidential statecraft.”
A postcard and a dinner program from Wynn’s collection appear in the article along with a photograph of Roosevelt with Trevelyan and his son George Macaulay Trevelyan.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
2009
The “News and Notes” section highlights the expansion of the Theodore Roosevelt Association’s (TRA) Public Speaking Contests and Police Awards to Long Island, New York, and it provides notices of the deaths of three TRA members who served on the association’s Board of Trustees. The section also notes an upcoming PBS documentary on Theodore Roosevelt, considers the operation of Sagamore Hill in the face of budget cuts, and includes a recollection of Roosevelt by Frank Ross McCoy, a former President of the TRA.
Four photographs, two from the ceremonies marking the TRA Police Award for New York City, supplement the text.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1994-1995
John A. Gable reviews Lewis L. Gould’s The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt and Jean Fritz’s Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt! in the “Book Reviews” section. Gable provides a detailed look at Gould’s work and compares and contrasts Gould’s assessments with those of other historians. Gable notes that Gould has a mostly favorable impression of President Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign and domestic policies, but he faults Gould for not adequately addressing Roosevelt’s achievements in conservation, and he disagrees with Gould’s assertion that McKinley was the first “‘modern President.'” Gable praises Fritz’s biography of Roosevelt for children, stating that it is a good starting point to learn about Roosevelt. Stephen W. Zsiray provides the first ever review of a software program in the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal with a look at a program that allows players to recreate the election of 1912. “Book Reviews” closes with a listing of ten Roosevelt related titles that are currently in print or have been reissued in paperback.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1991
Gable, John A.; Zsiray, Stephen W. (Stephen William), 1951-2014
Three brief reviews make up this edition of the “Book Reviews” section. In “Bat and TR,” Peter R. Fisher looks at Jack DeMattos’s Masterson and Roosevelt which examines the friendship between Bat Masterson, western gunfighter and marshal, and Theodore Roosevelt. John A. Gable notes the publication of a new paperback edition of Roosevelt’s Autobiography in “TR’s Autobiography.” Gable quotes from the introduction written by Elting E. Morison. Gable also reviews Kenneth D. Crews’s Edward S. Corwin and the American Constitution: A Bibliographical Analysis. Gable notes that Corwin was an authority on the Constitution and the presidency and that he was one of the first political scientists to recognize Roosevelt’s changes to the presidency.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1985
Wallace Finley Dailey, curator of the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard, presents a thorough bibliographic list of journal and magazine articles published since 1950 which have featured Theodore Roosevelt. The list is split into thirty-two categories, and is meant to be used as a supplement to Harvard University Library’s Theodore Roosevelt Collection: Dictionary Catalog and Shelflist.
Four photographs and one illustration of Roosevelt reading accompany the bibliography.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1982
John A. Gable reviews Nathan Miller’s The Roosevelt Chronicles, a history of the Roosevelt family in America. He acknowledges that Miller covers the lives of the well known Roosevelts: Theodore, Franklin, Eleanor, and Alice Longworth, but he believes that the real value of the book comes from its examination of lesser known members of the famous family. Gable looks at four of these figures: Nicholas Roosevelt, a pioneer in steamboats; James Roosevelt Bayley, an important figure in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church; Robert B. Roosevelt, Theodore’s uncle, who was a conservationist; and Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., Theodore’s son, who would earn the Medal of Honor for his actions on D-Day, 1944.
Frederick W. Marks describes the research he undertook for his book Velvet on Iron, and surveys the historiography of Theodore Roosevelt beginning in the 1920s. He argues that there persists a divide between his record as a restrained diplomat and the perception “of him as bellicose and impulsive.
A photograph of Marks accompanies his article.
Selections and quotations from ten reviews of Edmund Morris’s The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, all of which are positive. The article closes with a look at Morris and the story behind the writing of the biography.
Advertisements for the Food Town grocery store chain and the Roosevelt Savings Bank are found on the second page of the article.
G. Wallace Chessman looks at the evolving historiography of the study of Theodore Roosevelt and places his own work on Roosevelt’s time as Governor of New York within that framework. He asserts that Roosevelt’s reputation suffered in the 1930s with the publication of Henry Pringle’s biography (Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography), but the work of historians such as George Mowry and John Blum served as a correction to Pringle’s work. Chessman argues that the 1930s, with its isolationism in foreign affairs and its hostility to big business, further undermined Roosevelt’s standing.
Chessman argues that as Governor of New York, Roosevelt mostly took stands that should be viewed as “progressive,” and that he successfully navigated a course between obedience to the New York political machine led by Thomas Platt and his own reform agenda. He says that Roosevelt’s time as governor prepared him for the presidency, and he concludes his essay by contending that Roosevelt, however much he loved the American West, should primarily be seen as a man of New York City: “T.R. was surely an urban man.”
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1975
Wallace Finley Dailey provides a brief history of the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard University, noting the collection’s beginnings as an effort of the Roosevelt Memorial Association and initially housed at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace in New York City. He highlights those who have cared for the collection as well as historians who have made use of its resources in their published works. Harvard is currently constructing a new library on its campus, which will allow the collection to be housed in a modern setting.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1975
Historian Ray H. Mattison responds to H. Raymond Gregg, the regional chief of interpretation, regarding a proposal that the National Park Service make an intensive investigation of Theodore Roosevelt’s personal papers in order to gather information to make an archaeological investigation of the Elkhorn Ranch site. Mattison notes that he and others have already made thorough investigations into the relevant materials, and he believes there would be little to gain from retreading the same materials. He agrees, however, that the Elkhorn Ranch deserves a detailed study.
1958-09-22