Passenger pigeon

Report on the 80th annual meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) held in Norfolk, Virginia, onboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, and at Pine Knot, Theodore Roosevelt’s retreat in rural Virginia. The report details the annual dinner, noting its ceremonies and speakers, including the conferring of the TRA’s Junior Officer of the Year Award for the USS Theodore Roosevelt and recognizing John A. Gable’s twenty-five years as Executive Director of the TRA. The report highlights the association’s visit to the aircraft carrier, including an air show and the results of the various TRA elections for members of the Advisory Board, Board of Trustees, and Executive Committee. The report provides brief biographies of some of those elected to various capacities, and it highlights the presentation of Theodore Roosevelt’s naval flag to the USS Theodore Roosevelt for display in its museum.

The report highlights the speech given by Tsakhia Elbegdorj, a former Prime Minister and President of Mongolia, and it provides coverage of the TRA’s visit to Pine Knot, including a history of the property and plans for its upkeep and use. Thirteen photographs populate the report, including four of Pine Knot and two of the aircraft carrier.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Margaret P. Griffin chronicles the evolution of Theodore Roosevelt as a naturalist in the years 1874 and 1875. She highlights the creation of a “Natural History Society” composed of Roosevelt and several of his friends who shared nature observations, read papers, and organized outings. Griffin focuses on Roosevelt’s avid interest in ornithology, and she provides excerpts from Roosevelt’s notebooks to demonstrate his detailed knowledge of different species. Griffin notes Roosevelt’s encounters with the now extinct passenger pigeon, and she details the death of Frederick Sturges Osborn, one of Roosevelt’s closest friends and fellow ornithologist. 

Seven photographs accompany the essay, including one of Roosevelt and another showing examples of his bird taxidermy. 

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

This sprawling edition of “News and Notes” encompasses sixteen pages and contains thirty-four parts. The conferring of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) police awards for New York City, Boston, and western New York State opens the section along with a feature on the design of a new medal for the award by sculptor Marc Mellon. News of the ceremonies and outings of the 1993 annual meeting of the TRA in Charlottesville, Virginia, follows with a description of the association’s required elections, a field trip to Pine Knot, and the naming of the Junior Officer of the Year Award for the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The meeting also saw the presentation of the Bertha B. Rose Award to Barbara J. Comstock and historian William Henry Harbaugh.

“News and Notes” also provides a history of Pine Knot, Theodore and Edith Roosevelt’s presidential retreat, discusses the reopening of Sagamore Hill National Historic Site after an extensive renovation, and highlights the contributions of Conrad L. Wirth and Horace M. Albright to both the TRA and the National Park Service. The Roosevelt Study Center in the Netherlands is featured with news of its hosting a conference of European historians; the conferring of the annual Lawrence J. Saunders Awards for essays in American history; and the publication of a book on Dutch-American relations by the Center’s director, Cornelius A. van Minnen. The section closes with a detailed look at the process of compiling a comprehensive article and picture index for the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal from 1975 to 1992 by the staff and volunteers of the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site in Buffalo, New York.

Twenty photographs illustrate the section with entire pages devoted to the Boston Police Award ceremonies and the TRA annual meeting.

Paul Russell Cutright examines Theodore Roosevelt’s first two published works: lists of birds found in the Adirondack mountains and in Oyster Bay, New York. Cutright explores Roosevelt’s friendship with H.D. Minot who coauthored The Summer Birds of the Adirondacks in Franklin County, N.Y., and he also looks at Roosevelt’s Notes on Some of the Birds of Oyster Bay, Long Island. Cutright reviews the field work that went into each pamphlet, discusses some of the birds found in each, and compares the information found in them to observations in Roosevelt’s natural history notebooks. He also highlights the publications in which the pamphlets have been reprinted, and he lists the museums, libraries, and institutions that have these rare works in their collections. Two pages of endnotes and a biography of Cutright supplement the text.

The first page of The Summer Birds of the Adirondacks in Franklin County, N.Y. appears twice in the article along with a photograph of the Snow owl donated to the American Museum of Natural History by Roosevelt.

Paul Russell Cutright examines the thirteen natural history notebooks that Theodore Roosevelt kept during his childhood and young adult years. He notes the dates, the subjects, and the locations of the observations kept in each notebook. Cutright focuses on Roosevelt’s love of birding and most of the notebook excerpts deal with this subject. He highlights Roosevelt’s skill at identifying birds by their calls and songs, notes his considerable observation skills, and credits various naturalists and friends who influenced Roosevelt.

Two photographs of Roosevelt as a child and young man and a full-page picture of a mounted snowy owl that Roosevelt prepared accompany the article.

A listing of the officers of the Theodore Roosevelt Association along with the members of the executive, finance, and Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace committees is on page two of the article.

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. 

A large flock of wild pigeons has been reported in Sullivan County, New York, proving the bird is not extinct. Details about the range and numbers of birds are related.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-10-30

John Lewis Childs sends President Roosevelt details regarding various species of birds and their behaviors. Childs admits he was wrong, and the president right, about the nesting habits of the Long-eared vs. Short-eared owl. Childs describes a trip wherein he showed John Burroughs the nesting sites of a Brown Thrasher, and a Spotted Sandpiper, both incubating eggs. Childs compliments Roosevelt on the accuracy of his observations and description of a flock of passenger pigeons at Pine Knot, especially considering how busy he must be. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-20

Theodore Roosevelt thanks William F. Cole deeply for his gift of a pigeon. He elaborates it was a prized Mexican pigeon from the Rio Grande Valley, not a passenger pigeon.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-01-29

Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary informs Thomas J. Hook that Frank M. Chapman from the American Museum of Natural History is offering a prize to anyone who can locate a passenger pigeon. They recommend Hook get in contact with Chapman if he has the information he says.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-01-25

Theodore Roosevelt informs John B. Burnham that he heartily agrees with the aims of the American Game Protective and Propagation Association. He wishes New York was as successful as Maine, and laments the loss of the American wild pigeon. He believes arms manufacturers that do not support conservationism are working against their own future business.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-19

President Roosevelt was greatly interested in the “crutaceous diver” and the photograph of the last wild pigeon.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915-02-03

Theodore Roosevelt thanks Dr. Shufeldt for sending his pamphlet on passenger pigeons.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915-01-19

President Roosevelt thanks Ruthven Deane for the letter and enclosure, and notes that C. Hart Merriam is “not yet prepared to give up hope that the passenger pigeons have totally disappeared.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-22

President Roosevelt is interested in what Hervie A. Dobson has to say about pigeons. He is also “sure that chipmunks occasionally hibernate,” but concedes that he may be mistaken in saying they do so invariably.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-01

Theodore Roosevelt saw passenger pigeons at Albemarle. It was an “utterly unexpected sight.” Roosevelt has asked for Wm. B. Mershon’s new book on the passenger pigeon.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-22

President Roosevelt invites George Shiras to lunch. Roosevelt is pleased Shiras can make time for some writing, and tells him he wants to discuss something about passenger pigeons.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-09

Theodore Roosevelt believes he was correct about the passenger pigeons he saw. He includes evidence in the form of a letter written by Joseph Wilmer, whose place Plain Dealing is near Roosevelt’s Pine Knot. Roosevelt also includes an excerpt from George Shiras discussing various topics, including the timber wolf and how lynx hunt, and disagreeing with William J. Long’s texts on the subjects.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-08

President Roosevelt has found corroborative evidence for his sighting of passenger pigeons at Pine Knot in Albemarle County, Virginia. Dick, the foreman of Joseph Wilmer’s farm, saw two small flocks and his description of the birds match the passenger pigeon described in the fifth volume of Audubon. Roosevelt believes that Dick is reliable and views him as a “singularly close observer.” He requests that John Burroughs write to Lyman Abbott about the Long controversy.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-08

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