Naturalists

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lawrence F. Abbott

President Roosevelt cheers Winifred Buck Abbott for the birth of her son, Lyman Abbott. He comments that “[t]he pains of childbirth render all men the debtors of all women” and ranks mothers above solders. Roosevelt tells Lawrence F. Abbott that he regrets getting involved in the nature faker controversy, but explains that he finds it difficult to avoid work outside of the Presidency. He felt compelled to review poet Edwin Arlington Robinson for The Outlook because Robinson “merited more consideration” and to condemn naturalist William J. Long because “he is so impudent and so shameless an imposter.” Roosevelt encloses clippings of other’s opinions on Long.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-08

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to C. Hart Merriam

Theodore Roosevelt thinks it is extraordinary that any human being can believe William J. Long, stating that they “ought to have some sense.” This is in reference to the “nature fakers” controversy.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-09

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to the Editors of the Outlook

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.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-03

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Cephas F. Clapp

President Roosevelt agrees with Cephas F. Clapp, both about railroad trusts and nature faker writers. Roosevelt discusses the characteristics of antelope and giraffe horns.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-21

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George W. Spratt

President Roosevelt thanks George W. Spratt for an editorial he sent, saying the author knows what he’s talking about, unlike nature fakers like William J. Long or Jack London.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-19

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Ernest Ingersoll

President Roosevelt invites Ernest Ingersoll to visit with him at the White House or at Oyster Bay. Roosevelt is impressed by his work as a naturalist and writer and gave Archibald B. Roosevelt a copy of Ingersoll’s Life of Animals.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-15

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John Burroughs

Theodore Roosevelt is glad that John Burroughs wrote to The Outlook about the “nature faker” controversy. The quarrel with William J. Long is that he “invents the facts.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-15

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William T. Hornaday

President Roosevelt thanks Director Hornaday for his letter and the articles he sent. He laments that he gave writer William Joseph Long any press, even if it was to draw attention to his inaccuracies. His stories are complete fabrications, but “he says they are true simple because it pays better.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-02

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John Burroughs

Theodore Roosevelt would like additional information on passenger pigeons. He cannot afford to make an error in observation in the midst of the “nature faker” controversy. Roosevelt has destroyed William J. Long’s credit with “all decent men of even moderate intelligence.” Roosevelt writes of Long’s use of affidavits to back up impossible claims.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-02

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John Burroughs

Theodore Roosevelt is glad that John Burroughs is getting well. Roosevelt gave a statement about William J. Long and Jack London, writers of “unnatural history.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-03-12

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John Burroughs

President Roosevelt enjoyed reading John Burroughs’s recent article, and believes that Burroughs’s writings “will last, just as those of White of Selborne will last,” comparing him to a famous English naturalist. Roosevelt wishes Burroughs was with him and Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt on a recent walk to help them identify the birds they saw and heard.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-05-04

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to W. J. Holland

President Roosevelt is “genuinely flattered” that W. J. Holland, Director of the Carnegie Museum, referred to him as a “brother naturalist.” He hopes that someday there will be a great paleontology writer who can write for “laymen with scientific tastes. In a handwritten postscript, Roosevelt comments about the good pictures in Punch and comments that the hunting must have been good in Jurassic times.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03-07

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Nelson D. Keys

President Roosevelt will show Mr. Stewart and Alexander Lambert the “first-class photograph” that Nelson D. Keys sent him.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-11-24

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to W. A. Fraser

President Roosevelt commends W. A. Fraser for making it clear that his animal stories are fiction, rather than, as some naturalists do, present them as fact.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-10-12

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George Herbert Locke

Although he enjoyed William J. Long’s book, President Roosevelt takes issue with the fact that Long presents several anecdotes about animal behavior as absolute fact, when they are not so. Roosevelt highlights a passage about a wolf killing a caribou in an improbable fashion as an example.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-27

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Henry B. F. Macfarland

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.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-05-29

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John Burroughs

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.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-05-29

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

The Rev. W. J. Long and his nature fables

C. Hart Merriam questions whether William J. Long is deliberately preying on the public or whether he has psychological issues. Merriam notes that Long has given several animals “new cunning, new habits, and new physical strength.” He concludes that Long possesses “creative memory.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903

Creator(s)

Merriam, C. Hart (Clinton Hart), 1855-1942

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John Burroughs

President Roosevelt discusses the fallacies found in animal literature and his belief in “some means of communication among animals.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-03-07

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George Bird Grinnell

Theodore Roosevelt sends George Bird Grinnell two letters. In one of the letters, A. G. Wallihan “practically admits that we didn’t do him any injustices.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1898-04-07

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919