Your TR Source
Langdon Warner hopes Mrs. Roosevelt is recovering after her fall. He also thanks Theodore Roosevelt for sending a pamphlet on protective coloration, and hopes Roosevelt will speak to Mr. Thayer about the pamphlet.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-07
Frederick Courteny Selous apologizes to Theodore Roosevelt for not responding to his last letter, but Selous wanted to read Roosevelt’s pamphlet on coloration first, and has been very busy. He is taking the pamphlet with him to Africa to read on the ship. Selous will first stop in Paris, France to receive a medal from the French Academy of Sports in recognition of his big game hunting, and then travel with friends to Kenya. Selous would like to go back to Bahr el ghazal and study the Kob and the ways it changes color each year.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-12
Wilfred Hudson Osgood congratulates Theodore Roosevelt on Roosevelt’s interesting paper, “Revealing and Concealing Coloration,” and Osgood appreciates it’s wider implications into natural selection and evolution. Osgood agrees with Roosevelt that protective coloration does not explain why colors and characteristics might exist on specific animals.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-12
Raymond Pearl thanks Theodore Roosevelt for his letter, agrees that his experiments don’t disprove the protective coloration theory, and says he hopes to publish more data soon.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-12
Theodore Roosevelt argues against some of Abbott Handerson Thayer’s conclusions regarding the protective coloration of animals. Roosevelt believes that Thayer pushed his theory to extremes and he would like a competent scientist to conduct a serious study of coloration.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-02
Theodore Roosevelt informs Langdon Warner that there is no use talking to Abbott Handerson Thayer because he is unable to face the facts about protective coloration.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-09
Theodore Roosevelt reminds Frank M. Chapman that he sympathizes with Roosevelt because Roosevelt prioritizes the facts, unlike Thayer. Roosevelt is pleased that Chapman enjoyed his article on Panama and discusses the United States’ duty in Panama and Cuba and how it does not have that same duty in Russia or Turkey.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-09
Theodore Roosevelt thanks Raymond Pearl for sending his scientific paper on protective coloration. Roosevelt praises the study as a valuable example of experimental work, while reflecting on its implications for theories of animal camouflage.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-07
Theodore Roosevelt is pleased to send A. K. Fisher the book, and recalls how, while in Africa, he frequently heard Edgar Alexander Mearns and J. Alden Loring speaking about Fisher. Roosevelt recently wrote a pamphlet for the American Museum of Natural History on protective coloration, and hopes Fisher will read it when it comes out.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06-13
Theodore Roosevelt is looking forward to reading the book that J. A. Hartwell mentioned, as he is sure it will be interesting. He has already written to Matilda Bernard. Roosevelt mentions offhandedly that he has himself been writing a piece on concealing coloration recently. He wishes he was able to accompany Hartwell and his wife to see Roosevelt’s son, Ted, and his wife, Eleanor Butler Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06-08
Theodore Roosevelt sends Henry Fairfield Osborn a draft of his article on “concealing coloration” in animals so that he may discuss it with him during lunch on Friday.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-05-30
Theodore Roosevelt writes to Professor Kofoid of the University of California, Berkeley, regarding articles and pamphlets written by Henry Chester Tracy, Abbott Handerson Thayer, J. A. Allen, and Edward William Nelson on the topic of birds, plumage, and biological research.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-02
Theodore Roosevelt is delighted that Thomas Barbour will respond to Francis H. Allen’s article about “concealed coloration” in The Auk that attacked Roosevelt. Roosevelt is upset by Allen’s omission and misrepresentation of facts, including on the topics of “counter-shading” and natural selection. Roosevelt wishes Barbour could come to Oyster Bay for experiments regarding colors for concealment at night.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-12-03
Theodore Roosevelt writes to Witmer Stone, editor of The Auk, regarding a recent article that inaccurately criticized Roosevelt’s prior work on “concealing coloration” and “counter-shading” in response to Abbot Handerson Thayer, including in African Game Trails. Roosevelt also defends photographs he had taken of birds.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-11-22
President Roosevelt has finished reading John Burroughs’s Atlantic Monthly article. He recommends a “slight toning-down” of the statements regarding a mother-bird’s coloration. William J. Long, a “nature faker,” made an attack on John Burroughs in Harper’s Monthly. Roosevelt does not understand how reputable publications encourage Long. Roosevelt comments extensively on animal intelligence and on how animals may or may not teach their young.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-05-29
Frank M. Chapman has received Theodore Roosevelt’s proof of his upcoming article, and is glad that he approved of his suggestion. Chapman points Roosevelt to an article he wrote in which he discusses the connection between coloration and habitat further.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-07-01
Frank M. Chapman sends Theodore Roosevelt the balance of the proof of his article on protective coloration of animals. Chapman believes that, at least as far as birds are concerned, protective coloration is more important than Roosevelt currently allows in his article, and offers a number of examples supporting this view.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06-26
Edward William Nelson was pleased by the note Theodore Roosevelt sent accompanying the copy of the letter that Roosevelt wrote to Charles A. Kofoid regarding coloration of antelope. Nelson agrees with Roosevelt regarding the case, and believes that Abbott Handerson Thayer’s theory is “absurdly overworked” and in error. He regrets that he was unable to be present at the recent dinner of the Boone and Crockett club where he heard the matter was discussed.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-03-01
Theodore Roosevelt argues against some of Abbott Handerson Thayer’s conclusions regarding the protective coloration of animals. Roosevelt believes that Thayer pushed his theory to extremes and he would like a competent scientist to conduct a serious study of coloration.
1911-02-02
Handwritten draft of Chapter 4 of Life Histories of African Game Animals. Theodore Roosevelt argues that followers of Charles Darwin have done a disservice to the theory of evolution by asserting the over-arching importance of natural selection in bringing about the evolution of species. The coloration of animals is one phenomenon often used to illustrate the importance of natural selection – i.e. the animals’ color traits (striped, dark, light) help to conceal it from its predators and therefore enable it to survive. Roosevelt details his observations of African game animals to contest such theories, concluding that natural selection has played a minor part in developing the coloration of these animals.
1910