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Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary explains to Emma Agnes Pixley that Roosevelt does not know the procedure for bringing the work of her husband, Chelius S. Pixley, to the attention of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee. He suggests she contact them directly.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-08-09
Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary thanks Charles C. Lane for sending him ten copies of the Nobel lecture.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-05-26
Theodore Roosevelt jokes to Victor Murdock that he cannot divide up the bearskin until he receives it. Roosevelt has not seen the Nobel Prize Fund money yet.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-02-25
Theodore Roosevelt write to Alexander Smith Cochran, founder of the Elizabethan Club, to inquire about employment opportunities for poet Bliss Carman. Roosevelt mentions that when he was President, he angered the “ultra-civil-service Reformers” by encouraging a similar poet, Arlington Robinson, to pursue writing instead of his work at a millinery store.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-02-04
Theodore Roosevelt thinks it is preferable to have the disposition of the funds made by himself. He originally suggested a committee, when he thought the fund would be supplemented by other amounts. With such a small sum, however, better work will be done by one person. (This is likely in reference to Roosevelt’s Nobel Prize award, which he initially donated to Congress to establish a permanent Industrial Peace Committee. Congress never organized the committee and so, during World War I, Roosevelt petitioned Congress to return the funds to him so that he could distribute the money to war relief efforts and various charities.)
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-01-04
Theodore Roosevelt sends receipt of William Jennings Bryan’s letter, which had included the circular from the Nobel Committee.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-12-08
Theodore Roosevelt believes that the arrangements he made for the disposition of his Nobel Prize money was a mistake. If possible, he would like to use the funds for different philanthropic purposes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-11-16
President Roosevelt deeply appreciates the invitation to speak in Christiania, Norway, by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, as he highly values the Nobel prize that he was awarded. However, he cannot accept the invitation for fear of causing resentment among the other institutions whose invitations he has already had to turn down. He has a high regard for the Norwegian people and would like to visit Norway some day.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-11
President Roosevelt was pleased to write to the Nobel Prize Committee on behalf of Paul-Henri-Benjamin Balluet, Baron d’Estournelles de Constant. Roosevelt believes that he deserves the prize, and hopes that he gets it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-01-18
President Roosevelt writes to Norske Nobelkomite, the Nobel Committee of the Norwegian Parliament, to advocate for the selection of Paul-Henri-Benjamin Balluet, Baron d’Estournelles de Constant.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-01-18
President Roosevelt has received the medal, diploma, and check for the Nobel Prize. He thanks the committee, and tells them that the money is being used to create a foundation for promoting industrial peace.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-08
President Roosevelt tells former Mayor Low that the idea he has suggested has already been raised by Secretary of Commerce and Labor Oscar S. Straus and National Civic Federation founder John Mitchell. Roosevelt doubts the possibility of applying the semi-official gift from the Nobel Foundation and applying it to a private enterprise like the Civic Federation. He hopes a plan can be worked out, but notes that neither his name nor Alfred Nobel’s name should be “swallowed up in any private movement.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-20
President Roosevelt tells Christine Griffin Kean Roosevelt (wife of his cousin Emlen) that he hopes she approves of the way he used the Nobel Prize cash award. Roosevelt notes that after he got past his anger over the Maria Longworth Storer incident, that he found the situation amusing. He reports that he is taking up James Alexander Scrymser’s application with “the Departments,” and that he has had a difficult time getting businessmen and bankers to agree upon currency legislation.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-14
President Roosevelt thanks King Haakon VII of Norway for the “high honor” of his recent Nobel Peace Prize award.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-11
President Roosevelt gives directions for the US Delegation at Christiania to personally thank Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as Bjoernson for their congratulations on his Nobel Prize win.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-10
Roosevelt reiterates his thanks to Løvland for the Nobel Prize, and notes that he will communicate further by letter via “the Norwegian Minister at Washington,” Hjalmar Christian Hauge.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-10
President Roosevelt (through a telegram cabled to Assistant Secretary of State Robert Bacon) thanks Chairman Løvland for the Nobel Prize, noting that “There is no gift I could appreciate more.” Roosevelt states that after much consideration, he will donate the cash award towards establishing a “permanent Industrial Peace Committee” at Washington, D.C. as to carry out Alfred Nobel’s mission.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-10
President Roosevelt authorizes Herbert H. D. Peirce to accept the Nobel Peace Prize on his behalf, “and receipt therefor.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-07
President Roosevelt tells Kermit Roosevelt that he has written to Robert Harry Munro Ferguson and encloses a program for a recent dinner. Roosevelt relates to his son news from home, including the stories he is currently reading to Archibald “Archie” B. Roosevelt and Quentin Roosevelt. He speaks of his impending Nobel Prize and informs Kermit that he must reject the corresponding cash reward as long as he is in office, although he regrets that he would not be able to use the money to benefit Kermit and his siblings.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-05
President Roosevelt tells Ambassador Peirce to secretly accept the offer of the 1906 Peace Prize from Chairman of the Nobel Committee Jørgen Løvland. Roosevelt tells him to convey his extreme gratitude, and that once the prize is publicly announced he will make a proper acknowledgement.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-01