Ornig, Joseph R.

In a foreword to Joseph R. Ornig’s My Last Chance to Be a Boy: Theodore Roosevelt’s South American Expedition of 1913-1914, Tweed Roosevelt discusses Theodore Roosevelt’s lifelong interest in natural history, and he commends Ornig for including an examination of the speaking tour that Theodore Roosevelt undertook before he began his expedition. Roosevelt, a member of the Rio Roosevelt Expedition of 1992, details the similarities and differences between his expedition and the one completed by his great-grandfather. 

 

Six photographs, the front cover illustration of Ornig’s book, and the logo of the Theodore Roosevelt Association appear in the article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

The conferring of the annual Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) police awards for New York City, Boston, and Western New York state opens this edition of the “News and Notes” section. The accomplishments of each of the winners are detailed as are the ceremonies marking each award. A report on the TRA’s annual meeting and dinner follows with details of its speakers, field trips, and annual elections. The conferring of the TRA’s Junior Officer Leadership Award for a member of the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt is highlighted, and the section reprints an address by Edith Derby Williams given at the annual meeting.

Other news from the section includes the marking of twenty years as Executive Director of the TRA by John A. Gable; the awarding of the annual natural history research grants by the American Museum of Natural History; and the passing of TRA Trustee Oren Root. New York Governor George E. Pataki’s admiration for Theodore Roosevelt is noted as are the accomplishments of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. and his son, Quentin, on the fiftieth anniversary of the invasion of Normandy in World War II. “News and Notes” also trumpets recent works on Theodore Roosevelt by Caleb Carr, H. Paul Jeffers, and Joseph R. Ornig.

Eleven photographs appear in the section, including eight from the annual meeting, two from the police awards ceremonies, and one of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. with his son Quentin.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

This edition of “Book Notes” lives up to its billing as it features two brief reviews and notes about five other works previously reviewed in the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal. The section praises two new works, a biography of Alice Lee Roosevelt and a study of the Rough Riders from New Mexico, and it promotes Joseph R. Ornig’s study of the River of Doubt expedition and three books on Theodore Roosevelt’s tenure as Police Commissioner of New York City.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1994-1995

Creator(s)

Unknown

Michael L. Manson opens this edition of “Book Notes” with a review of H. Paul Jeffers’s look at Theodore Roosevelt’s role in starting and prosecuting the Spanish-American War. Manson writes that Colonel Roosevelt: Theodore Roosevelt Goes to War, 1897-1898 portrays Roosevelt as the driving force behind American entry into the war. The section also promotes three books written by two members of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, and it praises recent works on Roosevelt by Joan Paterson Kerr and Joseph R. Ornig. The section also contains a text box with information about a poster and booklet honoring Roosevelt produced by the New York State Department of Labor.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1996

Creator(s)

Manson, Michael L., 1936-; Unknown

The combined “Books” and “Book Notes” sections contain four lengthy reviews, a brief review essay, and a notice about five works related to the life of Theodore Roosevelt. It also includes a short excerpt from Roosevelt’s writings on conservation and a report by Wallace Finley Dailey on the status of the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard University. Christopher Volpe praises Edward Renehan’s biography of John Burroughs and highlights Burroughs’s friendships with Roosevelt and the poet Walt Whitman. Volpe notes that Burroughs was a very popular figure as a nature writer in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, but that he fell into obscurity after his death in 1921.

John A. Gable admires the cartoons and commentary found in J. David Valaik’s Theodore Roosevelt, An American Hero in Caricature which reproduces forty-seven caricatures of Roosevelt found in the pages of Puck magazine. Gable also favors Caleb Carr’s historical novel, The Alienist, which revolves around Roosevelt’s tenure as Police Commissioner of New York City. Gable, deeply skeptical of fictional portrayals of Roosevelt, finds Carr’s treatment “entirely accurate,” and he notes how other characters that people the novel have roots in real persons.

James G. Lewis reviews Char Miller’s Gifford Pinchot: The Evolution of an American Conservationist and notes that the work challenges the established view of the relationship between Pinchot and John Muir. Lewis says that Miller is “writing revisionist environmental history” by providing a nuanced portrait of Pinchot. Some of the selections as well as some of the commentary found in Mario R. Di Nunzio’s Theodore Roosevelt: An American Mind are questioned by the anonymous reviewer.

Wallace Finley Dailey, Curator of the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard University, provides a detailed update on manuscript and book additions to the collection; the use of the collection holdings by numerous authors; and the adoption of new computer based cataloging technology. Dailey also discusses fundraising efforts, exhibitions using the collection materials, and donations from members of the Roosevelt family. Photographs of Burroughs, Pinchot, Carr, and Valiak appear in the sections along with a view of the Theodore Roosevelt Gallery at Harvard.

Advertisement from Stackpole Books for two books by Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness and Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter, and for Joseph R. Ornig’s account of Roosevelt’s expedition on the River of Doubt. The ad features cover illustrations for all three titles and includes brief summaries of each title as well as an order form.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1993-1994

Creator(s)

Stackpole Books (Firm)

Seven books, including two memoirs, are examined in six review essays in this edition of the “Book Notes” section. Michael L. Manson reviews two books on Theodore Roosevelt’s 1914 scientific expedition to Brazil; one penned by Roosevelt and the other by Joseph R. Ornig. Manson praises the forewords to both books written by Tweed Roosevelt, and he finds Ornig’s book provides a detailed look at the expedition and the cast of characters besides Roosevelt who made it successful. Stacy A. Cordery notes that journalist Joseph Alsop’s memoirs deal mostly with the major events and figures of the mid to late twentieth century, and she reveals Alsop’s opinions of various senators, presidents, and generals.

Richard P. Harmon faults Peter Collier’s The Roosevelts: An American Saga for focusing too much on the private lives of the two Roosevelt families, and he says that many of Collier’s assertions are not backed by evidence and that the book relies too much on a psychohistory approach. James Summerville asserts that H. Paul Jeffers’s look at Roosevelt’s tenure as Police Commissioner of New York City, Commissioner Roosevelt, disappoints and that readers should turn to Jay S. Berman’s study or to coverage of this period of Roosevelt’s career in biographies. John A. Gable provides a positive and short review of a short book, William H. Harbaugh’s fifty page history of Pine Knot, which Gable says is written with “charm and style.” Robert D. Dalziel, President of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA), reviews the memoirs of Hamilton Fish, a winner of the TRA’s Distinguished Service Medal. Dalziel says that Fish’s opinions are straightforward and blunt like their author.

Two photographs appear in the section: one shows three members of the Rio Roosevelt Expedition of 1992 and the other dignitaries of the Dutch government at the Roosevelt Study Center in the Netherlands.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal