Your TR Source
President Roosevelt thanks the editor Richard Gilder for sending him the article, and sends him something for his wife, Helen Gilder.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-05-16
President Roosevelt thanks Merrill Edwards Gates for the book, which he will give to Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, and for the introduction about Jacob A. Riis.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-04-13
President Roosevelt appreciates William Dudley Foulke’s reviews of Jacob A. Riis and Francis E. Leupp’s volumes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-03-25
President Roosevelt comments on false stories that have appeared in the press regarding executive spending. He defends the expansion of the White House as being necessary and the cost of the tennis court as trivial. There was no “personal naval review” that used public money and Roosevelt has used the government yachts, Mayflower and Sylph, sparingly. The yachts are also not exclusive to the president and are used by other government officials. Finally, entertainment at the White House is paid personally by Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-03-14
President Roosevelt thanks William Bailey Howland for the copy of Jacob A. Riis’s book. The book portrays Roosevelt as he ought to be and he will try to live up to it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-02-17
President Roosevelt believes an editorial from William Allen White would be very useful. He suggests that William Loeb and Nicholas Murray Butler can provide information. Roosevelt was touched by what White and Jacob A. Riis wrote about him. He simply wants to make things better and treat everyone according to their merits.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-02-15
President Roosevelt was pleased with the letter from Edward V. Riis. Roosevelt is often uncomfortable with the writing of Jacob A. Riis as Riis views him through “rose-colored glasses.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-02-08
It is clear that Jacob A. Riis wrote the book from his position as a “loving and devoted friend.” President Roosevelt knows that the potential royalties never entered Riis’s mind but he hopes that his time as president will boost the book and help the Riis family save some money.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-02-04
President Roosevelt asks Commissioner of Pensions Ware for a favor. He would like Henry T. Johns, a Medal of Honor winner, to be reinstated in spite of the age limit.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12-15
President Roosevelt has heard good things about Doolittle but is unsure if he can be offered the position. Roosevelt had a good talk with Jacob Riis, who will call on Governor Odell soon.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-09-08
President Roosevelt encloses a letter from Mrs. Turner to Jacob Riis. Roosevelt asks Alford Warriner Cooley to look into the case and communicate with Riis.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-08-27
President Roosevelt is against a sketch of his “younger days” being made because he remembers them as being entirely ordinary. Roosevelt does not believe that he did anything “up to the average” until he was sixteen. Jacob A. Riis is currently preparing a general sketch of Roosevelt’s life.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-08-20
President Roosevelt introduces William Bailey Howland of The Outlook, which will be publishing a life of Roosevelt by Jacob Riis. Roosevelt would like Senator Hanna to discuss a more political preface for the book with Howland.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-08-10
President Roosevelt encloses a letter from Jacob Riis suggesting that Roosevelt give a speech in San Francisco. Roosevelt requests that President Wheeler help set up the speech if he supports the idea.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-04-22
During President Roosevelt’s term as police commissioner, Maximillian Frances Schmittberger “behaved admirably.” However, Roosevelt is unsure of Schmittberger’s actions since his time as police commissioner, but is inclined to believe that he deserves a promotion.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-01-21
President Roosevelt is pleased that Arthur von Briesen approves of his speech. Roosevelt also tries to support a despondent Brieson on his “Americanism” particularly that a person’s place of birth is irrelevant. Along with Jacob Riis, Roosevelt often uses Briesen as the “types of what true Americans should be.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-06-03
Vice President Roosevelt received Booker T. Washington’s outline for the trip and thinks it is “first rate.” Roosevelt was unable to coordinate the trip with Jacob A. Riis’s schedule.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-09-07
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt praises Frank Rathgeber, Minnie Gertrude Kelly, and Jacob A. Riis as good friends. Roosevelt is glad Police Commissioner Frank Moss wants Rathgeber to be made a roundsman and would like Rathgeber to keep him apprised if anything interesting happens in the police department.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-05-28
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt will be investigating the New York Navy Yard; otherwise, he would be pleased to introduce H. N. Hanna of the Children’s Fresh Air Society to his friend Jacob A. Riis.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-05-08
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt enjoyed Lincoln Steffens’s letter and regards him and Jacob A. Riis as the bright spots of his police work. He comments on the tickets. Roosevelt is grateful for what Steffens did for Minnie Gertrude Kelly and Frank Rathgeber. Police Commissioner Frank Moss has made an admiral beginning in his new position.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-04-28