Olmsted, Frederick Law, 1870-1957

Report concerning the agreement reached between the National Commission of Fine Arts and the Roosevelt Memorial Association, later called the Theodore Roosevelt Association, regarding the location and appearance of the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial. The report also discusses the involvement of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and architect John Russell Pope in the development of the memorial and lists the conclusions they have reached regarding the projects.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial

Creation Date

1930

Creator(s)

United States. Commission of Fine Arts.

Aerial photograph showing the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial on Theodore Roosevelt Island. The memorial is surrounded by trees adhering to landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted’s vision and the riverside buildings of Foggy Bottom can be seen in the distance.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial

Creation Date

1965

Creator(s)

Unknown

Barracks for members of the Civilian Conservation Corps stationed on Theodore Roosevelt Island. These men, under the instruction of Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., are endeavoring to return the island to natural woodland state.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial

Creation Date

1935

Creator(s)

Unknown

Several Civilian Conservation corps workers clearing brush on Theodore Roosevelt Island. These men, under the instruction of Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., are endeavoring to return the island to a natural woodland state.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial

Creation Date

1935

Creator(s)

Unknown

The Act of Congress which established a memorial for Theodore Roosevelt. Also included is a discussion of the actions taken by the Roosevelt Memorial Association, later called the Theodore Roosevelt Association, to develop and maintain Theodore Roosevelt Island as a natural and beautiful wilderness. The discussion includes the retention of the noted landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., the question of how to provide access to the island and memorial and also calls for a swift completion of the project.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial

Creation Date

1955

Creator(s)

Unknown

President Roosevelt sends a list of nominations for the Council of Fine Arts and encloses a copy of the executive order he issued to create such a council.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-18

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Lillian F. Clarke protests that a recent article in the Outlook does not seem to have understood the situation surrounding the physical attack against Senator Charles Sumner by Representative Preston Brooks in 1856. Clarke characterizes Sumner as “severe but perfectly parliamentary” in his speeches criticizing the southern states and slavery, and the assault against him was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but was premeditated.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-10

Creator(s)

Clarke, Lillian F. (Lillian Freeman), 1842-1921

Gregory A. Wynn describes the nineteen page book produced by the Roosevelt Memorial Association to promote the construction of a Theodore Roosevelt memorial in Washington, D.C. Wynn also examines other projects undertaken in the nation’s capital by the project’s architect, John Russell Pope.  Wynn discusses why the proposed memorial failed to be built, and he compares its design to the National World War II Memorial. A photograph of Wynn and photographs of the book’s cover and title page appear in the article. 

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2011

Creator(s)

Wynn, Gregory A.

Alan R. Havig examines the effort of the Roosevelt Memorial Association (RMA) to secure a site on the Washington, D.C., mall to erect a memorial to Theodore Roosevelt. Havig argues that it was not the grandiose design by architect John Russell Pope that doomed the proposal, but that many in and out of Congress felt that constructing a memorial to Roosevelt in the 1920s was too soon after his death. Other critics argued that Roosevelt had not yet earned a place among the memorials to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Havig notes that Roosevelt, while denied a monument in the nation’s capital, would gain a memorial on Theodore Roosevelt Island in 1967, and he would earn a place on South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore among the figures that he was deemed unworthy of joining in the 1920s. 

Four illustrations, three photographs of memorials to Roosevelt, and the logo of the Theodore Roosevelt Association populate the essay. 

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

In this chapter excerpt from his book John Muir and His Legacy: The American Conservation Movement, Stephen Fox examines efforts to expand Yosemite National Park, the battle between preservationists and conservationists over the use of forests, and provides portraits of John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, John Burroughs, and Theodore Roosevelt. He looks at the work undertaken by the conservation movement to preserve Niagara Falls, the redwood forests of California, and Mount Desert Island in Maine. Fox concludes the chapter with a look at the battle over the city of San Francisco’s desire to build a dam at the southern end of Hetch Hetchy valley in Yosemite National Park. In addition to looking at the life and work of Muir, the chapter provides information on many lesser known figures in the turn of the twentieth-century conservation movement.

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

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1981