North Dakota--Medora

Report on the Roosevelt family reunion held in Bismarck and Medora, North Dakota. The report notes that the group was hosted by Ed Schafer, the governor of North Dakota, and was accompanied by historians John A. Gable and Douglas Brinkley. The report highlights and lists the Roosevelt family members who have contributed to a fund established by the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) to support a lecture series in honor of P. James Roosevelt. A photograph of the group assembled in Medora appears on the first page of the report. 

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1997

James F. Vivian provides a look at Theodore Roosevelt’s time in the North Dakota Badlands with a collection of newspaper accounts, ranging from 1898 to 1915, drawn from interviews with Roosevelt’s friends, fellow ranchers, cowboys, and acquaintances. Vivian provides an introduction and an afterword to the article, as well as an introduction to each of its twelve sections. The accounts include reminiscences from the likes of William Sewall, Arthur T. Packard, and the brothers Sylvane Ferris and Joseph Ferris. Vivian contends that these interviews “corroborate the content and quality” of the work done by Hermann Hagedorn in his book Roosevelt in the Bad Lands.

Ten photographs appear in the article, including three of Roosevelt’s contemporaries, Frederick Herrig, James W. Foley, and Arthur T. Packard, along with two photographs of the museum dedicated to Roosevelt onboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt. An illustration by Frederic Remington of Roosevelt’s capture of the boat thieves, and a text box with a listing of the members of the executive committee of the Theodore Roosevelt Association supplement the text.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

John A. Gable reviews Douglas Brinkley’s The Majic Bus: An American Odyssey and highlights the work’s section on Medora, North Dakota. Gable notes that some of the royalties from the sale of the book will go to the Theodore Roosevelt Association, and he quotes at length from Brinkley’s call for a return to basics in teaching American history. The review is followed by an excerpt from The Majic Bus. “Book Notes” also discusses the conferring of the 1993 Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize to Brinkley and his co-author Townsend Hoopes for their biography of James Forrestal, and it lists all of the recipients of the prize from 1986 to 1993. The section also includes a meditation of Theodore Roosevelt by William Hard in which he asserts that Roosevelt’s magnetic personality could transform the ordinary into the “immortally interesting.”

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1993

This edition of “News and Notes” features an obituary of Jessica Van Ausdall Kraft who served as the personal secretary to Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, Curator of Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, and in various roles with the Theodore Roosevelt Association. The section also explains the decision of Harold and Sheila Schafer of Medora, North Dakota, to found the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation to run the various motels and shops in the tourist town formerly run by Harold Schafer’s Gold Seal Company. “News and Notes” closes with an announcement about a new musical, “Teddy and Alice,” which depicts the life of President Theodore Roosevelt and his daughter Alice Roosevelt Longworth in the White House.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1987

This edition of the “News and Notes” section is mostly devoted to the various activities, celebrations, and commemorations marking the 125th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt’s birth. The section lists some of these celebrations and includes more details about the “Roosevelt Renaissance” held at Theodore Roosevelt Island in June 1983. The section reviews the May 1983 meeting of the American Forestry Association which marked the seventy-fifth anniversary of Roosevelt’s Conference on Conservation, and it devotes parts of four pages to a visit to Medora, North Dakota, by members of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA). It also recommends five books about Roosevelt.

The section has a photograph of the TRA group in Medora, North Dakota, and three photographs of members of the TRA with the Governor of North Dakota, Allen I. Olson. An illustration of Roosevelt in his buckskin hunting outfit and a montage of Roosevelt with images of the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace and Sagamore Hill National Historic Sites are also found in the section.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

This article provides a biography of each of the winners of the 1983 Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal. Three paragraphs cover the four winners: Captain Edward L. Beach, Ambassador Philip C. Habib, Harold Lyle Schafer, and Sheila Schafer. The paragraphs provide highlights of the careers of each of the winners. Each of the paragraphs is accompanied by a photograph of the medal recipient(s).

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1984

P. James Roosevelt confers the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal on Harold Lyle Schafer and Sheila Schafer. Roosevelt quotes extensively from Theodore Roosevelt in his remarks in which he notes the philanthropic work done by the Schafers, the roots of their success in the Gold Seal Company, and their restoration of the town of Medora, North Dakota.

A photograph of the Schafers with Roosevelt and William Davison Johnston of the Theodore Roosevelt Association accompanies the citation.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

The “News and Notes” section focuses on the celebrations, ceremonies, and lectures highlighting the 125th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt’s birth in New York City, Oyster Bay, and Washington, D.C. The section repeats in shortened form some of the information provided in other articles in the issue, looks at the various lectures and interviews given by John A. Gable, Executive Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, and notes personnel news from the various Roosevelt sites managed by the National Park Service.

A photograph of Harold and Sheila Schafer in Medora, North Dakota, is found on page two of the section.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

History of Medora, North Dakota, to mark its Centennial celebration in 1983. The article focuses on Theodore Roosevelt’s time as a rancher in the Badlands surrounding Medora, its decline, and its subsequent resurrection as a tourist gateway to Theodore Roosevelt National Park due to the efforts of Harold and Sheila Schafer and the Gold Seal Company.

The logo of the Medora Centennial and photographs of the Rough Rider Hotel in Medora, the Schafers, and The Medora Musical accompany the article.

A listing of the officers of the Theodore Roosevelt Association as well as the members of its executive, finance, and Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace committees is found on the second page of the article.

Article about the Marquis de Mores, his founding of the town of Medora, and the failed attempt to sustain a meatpacking plant in the Badlands of Dakota Territory. The article also describes his mansion, the Chateau de Mores, and its evolution into a house museum run by the state of North Dakota.

Photographs of the Marquis de Mores and the Chateau accompany the article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Article about the Centennial of the town of Medora, North Dakota, which provides a brief history of the community, including its importance to the life of Theodore Roosevelt.

The logo of the Medora Centennial occupies half of the first page of the article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

This edition of “News and Notes” highlights some of the ceremonies marking the 125th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt’s birth. It details some of the content and arguments put forth in Paul Schullery’s American Bears: Selections from the Writings of Theodore Roosevelt, provides a report on the donations and finances of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) for fiscal year 1982, and reviews a colloquium on historic preservation held at Sagamore Hill National Historic Site. The column also covers Roosevelt birthday celebrations in Buffalo, New York, and Tampa, Florida, the annual meeting of the committee overseeing the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard University, and the TRA Public Speaking Contest for the New York public high schools. The column concludes with a notice about the Centennial of Medora, North Dakota.

A photograph of Selwa Roosevelt and the logo of the Medora, North Dakota, Centennial appear in the column.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

John A. Gable acknowledges the various authors who have essays appearing in this issue of the Journal, and he quotes from several reviews of David McCullough’s biography of Theodore Roosevelt, Mornings on Horseback. Gable also notes the opening of a new visitor center at the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, North Dakota, and he highlights the ceremonies surrounding eightieth anniversary of Roosevelt’s inauguration at the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1981

John A. Gable provides a comprehensive report on the work of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) in 1981. He details the TRA’s support of the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site, and he notes the association’s financial support of Youngs Memorial Cemetery, the adjacent Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary in Oyster Bay, and the American Museum of Natural History. Gable also reports on the association’s support of student essay and speaking contests, additions to the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard University, and the Roosevelt Genealogical Project. He notes the growth in membership and dues for the TRA, and he lists the articles published in 1981 in the TRA Journal. Gable highlights the work of David McCullough and Edmund Morris on Theodore Roosevelt and gives examples of the TRA’s support of the various historical sites associated with the life of Roosevelt.

A drawing of the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Historical Site and photographs of John A. Gable with members of the faculty of Richland College and with TRA President William Johnston and David McCullough are included in the report.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

John A. Gable provides a comprehensive report on the work of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) in 1979. He details the TRA’s support of Bulloch Hall in Georgia, Youngs Memorial Cemetery and the adjacent Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary in Oyster Bay, and the American Museum of Natural History. Gable also reports on the association’s support of student essay and speaking contests, additions to the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard University, and the Roosevelt Genealogical Project. He closes with an assertion that the United States is “in the midst of what can be called a ‘Roosevelt revival'” given the rise in membership of the TRA and the publication of a number of significant works on Roosevelt in 1979, most significantly Edmund Morris’s The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.

A photograph of a bust of Theodore Roosevelt is found on the third page of the report.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

This article covers the elections, speakers, and ceremonies during the fifty-ninth annual meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association held at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site in October 1978. In addition to the usual reports of committees and officers, highlights of the meeting included the introduction of Edmund and Sylvia Morris, authors of biographies of Theodore Roosevelt and Edith Roosevelt respectively. The meeting also recognized, with a citation and picture of Theodore Roosevelt, the work of Harold Schafer and the Gold Seal Company in restoring and reviving Medora, North Dakota, the gateway community to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The article closes by listing members of the Roosevelt family and special guests in attendance at the meeting.

Two photographs of the meeting featuring Leonard W. Hall, John A. Gable, Theodore Roosevelt III, and Harold Schafer accompany the article, along with one political cartoon.

Article about the visit to Medora, North Dakota and Theodore Roosevelt National Park by the leadership and some members of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) in August 1979. The article discusses the importance of the Badlands experience for Theodore Roosevelt, gives a brief history of Medora, and lists the sites seen by the group. The article names the thirty-four members of the TRA who made the trip to North Dakota.

Eleven photographs showing members of the TRA visiting the Medora area attractions and others showing some of the landmark buildings in town accompany the article.

John A. Gable elaborates on the visit by members of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) to Medora, North Dakota, and on the Edward S. Curtis photography exhibit in Sea Cliff, New York. He endorses Edmund Morris’s The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt,  notes Theodore Roosevelt books by Nathan Miller and Jerome Alden, and discusses the extensive Theodore Roosevelt collections of Governor James Thompson of Illinois and his friend Daniel Weil. Gable closes with a paragraph discussing the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal, the work of the TRA, and the need to grow the association’s membership.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1979

The sixtieth annual meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) was held at Sagamore Hill National Historic Site on October 27, 1979. The article details the various reports given by the leadership of the TRA covering topics such as the state of the association’s finances, the election of officers and committee members, and the surge of interest in Theodore Roosevelt as evidenced by the many new books published about him in 1978-1979. The meeting concluded with talks by historians Edmund and Sylvia Morris about their biographies of Theodore and Edith Roosevelt.

Photographs of the Old Orchard Museum at Sagamore Hill, site of the annual meeting, and of Edmund and Sylvia Morris accompany the article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

In “The Sighting at Pine Knot, Virginia,” Alton A. Lindsay explores the question of whether Theodore Roosevelt was the last person to report a credible sighting of the extinct passenger pigeon near his presidential retreat, Pine Knot in Virginia, in 1907. Lindsay provides a history of Pine Knot and also looks at the making of Roosevelt as a naturalist going back to his childhood.  He notes some of the defining experiences in Roosevelt’s life that made him a naturalist and conservationist, such as his time in the Dakota Badlands. Like other scholars he pushes back against the idea that Roosevelt was merely a man of action and asserts that he “was a man of intellect.”

He details Roosevelt’s sighting of a small flock of passenger pigeons in May 1907, and argues that Roosevelt’s history and experience as a naturalist and ornithologist lend credibility to his claims to have seen the birds.