Your TR Source
Theodore Roosevelt sends Ernest Thompson Seton his book. He commends Seton’s volumes as “one of the most valuable contributions” to the study of American mammals.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-01-06
Theodore Roosevelt has thoroughly enjoyed Wilfred H. Osgood’s book.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-08-07
Theodore Roosevelt has been interested in Hartley H. T. Jackson’s study, “Bog-life in Wisconsin.” Roosevelt wishes that there was more certainty with assigning the Latin names for animals.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-03-30
President Roosevelt asks Henry Fairfield Osborn if he can send a copy of The Royal Natural History, but only if it is not asking too much.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-03
Theodore Roosevelt thanks C. Hart Merriam for the pamphlets on Mendel’s Law. Roosevelt encourages Merriam to write a great natural history of the mammals of North America.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-05-06
President Roosevelt sends Caspar Whitney, editor of Outing, a text from wildlife photographer George Shiras which can be cut for publication if necessary. Roosevelt thanks Whitney for disputing the opinions of William J. Long in the nature fakers controversy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-06-29
President Roosevelt sends Frederick Courteney Selous a foreword for his book. Roosevelt hopes that Selous will consider adding the articles about the “Uganda Railway man-eating lions” as an appendix to his book. Roosevelt sends Selous a few photographs of him jumping his young horse.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-05-25
President Roosevelt describes his trip to Panama to his son Kermit Roosevelt. They have been extremely busy during their stay. He describes the feeling of coming to Panama and his thoughts about several rebellions that have happened in the area when he first became president. He explains the begins of the canal by the French and how now that the Americans have taken over, the process will be longer than planned. He describes the progress of the canal’s construction as well as the environment of Panama. Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt did not tramp through the mud like Roosevelt did, but she enjoyed herself and the beautiful area.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-20
President Roosevelt has very much enjoyed Frederick Courteney Selous’s articles and hopes he will write a book about the natural history of big game. Roosevelt appreciates Selous’s ability to describe sights vividly and accurately.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-12-18
President Roosevelt was amused at part of H. S. Garfield’s puma article where someone claimed that puma do not kill deer. Roosevelt has personally seen many deer killed by pumas and believes them to be more successful at killing deer then wolves.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-01-11
Edgar Alexander Mearns has known Theodore Roosevelt since 1874. They collected natural history specimens on the Hudson River. Mearns and Roosevelt had a “speaking acquaintance” when Roosevelt was civil service commissioner. This document is a fragment.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1913-05
John Burroughs thanks Theodore Roosevelt for the copy of A Book Lover’s Holidays in the Open. Burroughs appreciates Roosevelt’s “keen natural history interests.” Burroughs also tells Roosevelt that the people wanted him at the Republican National Convention. They wanted a man whom the pro-Germans did not want. As a postscript, Burroughs mentions his first-time sighting of a golden-winged warbler.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1916-06-19
Edward William Nelson sends Theodore Roosevelt some of his findings on the natural history of Alaska. He includes reports on the habits of birds and the material culture of the indigenous people of the Bering Strait. Nelson read Roosevelt’s “extremely interesting and valuable” article on animal coloration and agrees that Thayer and other naturalists “have gone beyond all reason” in their conclusions.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-02
August Donath, Superintendent of Documents at the Government Printing Office, informs Theodore Roosevelt that he is unable to send the complete series of “North American Fauna.” He is sending twenty-six of the thirty-two copies and enclosing a bill.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-07-14
Charles D. Walcott, Secretary of the Smithsonian, assures Theodore Roosevelt that it will not interfere with publication of studies on Roosevelt’s specimens from Africa if Edmund Heller accompanies Paul James Rainey on another expedition to Africa. Heller will put the finishing touches on the white rhinoceros publication on the boat to Naples and send it back for publication. The time that Heller is away will allow the remaining mammal skins to be labeled and prepared for a broad study of the collection. It is too late to change the plan and find another man to go in Heller’s place.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-08
William T. Hornaday is pleased to hear institutions in the United States will receive three new rhinoceros specimens. Hornaday assures Theodore Roosevelt that the Camp Fire Club dinner will be carried out according to his wishes. Hornaday strongly objected to William J. Long’s presence at a dinner. The campaign to protect the fur-seal fisheries of Alaska has been successful, and Hornaday hopes the bill will pass before the end of April.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1910-03-24
John Burroughs is starting for California and will not see Theodore Roosevelt before his long African hunt. John Muir will meet Burroughs in Arizona and go with him to the Petrified Forest and the Grand Canyon. Burroughs looks forward to the natural history notes that Roosevelt will bring back with him from Africa and congratulates Roosevelt on his recent speech in Kentucky, which he says contains many “noteworthy passages.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-20
Edgar Alexander Mearns will receive the full pay and allowances of a Major, instead of a Lieutenant Colonel. Mearns has also “industriously gathered” Natural History materials his whole life and given the items to museums.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-06
John Burroughs has finished reading a book on big game hunting in East Africa. Burroughs believes it is the “most-readable” book on African hunting he has yet read. He would like to present the book to Roosevelt as a commemoration of their days at Pine Knot. Burroughs hopes to be at the dock when Roosevelt’s ship returns. Burroughs believes the country is with Roosevelt in his fight with Congress.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-11
Caspar Whitney sends President Roosevelt the extracts from George Shiras’s letter to Roosevelt which he proposes to publish in response to William J. Long in the nature fakers controversy. Whitney suggests framing the statement not as coming from a letter to Roosevelt, but merely from someone who has studied animals in the field more carefully than has Long.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-22