Rondon, Cândido Mariano da Silva, 1865-1958

This edition of the “News and Notes” section begins with media coverage of the Rio Roosevelt Expedition 1992, including the reprinting of a New York Times article on the expedition and highlighting coverage on ABC television’s “Good Morning America” program. The section also details some of the many awards and honors bestowed by the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) and its partners in 1992, including police awards in New York City and Boston; research grants from the American Museum of Natural History; the public speaking contest for the New York City public schools; and the awards given by the Roosevelt Study Center in the Netherlands for essays in American history. “News and Notes” also features three obituaries of prominent figures in the TRA: Oliver R. Grace, Elisha Dyer, and William Davison Johnston. The latter two served as Presidents of the TRA, and this issue of the journal is dedicated to Johnston. The section closes with reflections on Theodore Roosevelt by three of his contemporaries, Van Wyck Brooks, Joseph Bucklin Bishop, and Hamlin Garland.

Eleven photographs illustrate the section: two of members of the Rio Roosevelt Expedition; five from the police awards in Boston and New York City; three of Dyer and Johnston; and one of the awards ceremony at the Roosevelt Study Center. There are two text boxes in the section: one seeks a financial sponsor for the TRA public speaking contest, and the other notes a change in the mailing address of the TRA.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Much of this lengthy edition of the “News and Notes” section, eight of fourteen pages, is devoted to the election, dinner, and ceremonies surrounding the 1991 annual meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) in Roswell, Georgia. The meeting news includes the conferring of the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal to Eugene P. Odum, the complete text of the medal’s citation, and a report on the state of the TRA by its president, Robert D. Dalziel. The section also includes three quotes from Theodore Roosevelt on nature and conservation and an announcement that an expedition will undertake to retrace Roosevelt’s expedition on the River of Doubt in Brazil in 1992. The reopening of Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall at the American Museum of Natural History, after an extensive renovation, the results of the TRA’s annual Teddy Bear Drive, and the conferring of the TRA’s Bertha B. Rose Award to Cornelius Boertien of the Roosevelt Study Center are also detailed. The section closes with a indictment of NBC television’s movie “The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw” for its portrayal of Roosevelt, labeling the program as a “stupid film” and “trash.”

The section includes ten photographs from the annual meeting, two photographs from the Rose Award ceremony, a photograph of Odum, and a photograph of the members of the Brazil expedition team. A text box noting that this issue is dedicated to Oliver R. Grace and an illustration of both sides of the TRA medallion supplement the section.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Robert C. Kimberly provides a detailed examination of the various afflictions and ailments that marked the life of Theodore Roosevelt from his childhood to his death in January 1919. He describes Roosevelt’s struggles with asthma and poor eyesight as a youth, his battle to control his weight, and details many of the injuries he suffered while living out the strenuous life. Kimberly delves into the serious leg injury Roosevelt suffered in a carriage accident in 1902, his decades long struggle with malaria, his near death experience on the River of Doubt expedition, and the treatment he received after the October 1912 assassination attempt. He notes the many doctors who treated Roosevelt as well as the implications his health problems had for his wife Edith.  

 

A listing of the officers of the Theodore Roosevelt Association is found on page three of the article and an advertisement for the Roosevelt Savings Bank is found at its conclusion. 

At Tapirapoan the Roosevelt-Rondon group began the overland portion of their trip to the headwaters of the River of Doubt; there are scenes of oxen and pack mules. Orchids and palm trees with birds nesting in them depict flora and fauna of the area. The group spent several days at Utiarity (Utiariti) where Roosevelt especially admired the nearby waterfalls. There is a still photo of Roosevelt, Colonel  Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, and others with a group of Nhambiquara (Nambicuara) Indians near the Juruena River. Scenes depict the exacting journey down the River of Doubt: long shots of the river and men propelling canoes through rapids; men chopping trees for rollers on which canoes are hauled; transporting supplies and canoes; making paddles; cooking and eating at campsites. A still photo shows Roosevelt writing while wearing a protective headnet and gauntlets. The man examining a broken branch may be Commander G. M. Dyott; the Dyott party did meet Indians and there is footage of several who were called Arara Indians by Dyott. In a still photo, the Brazilian paddlers are grouped around the marker bearing the river’s new name, Rio Roosevelt, and there is also footage of a member of Dyott’s party examining the original marker 14 years later. The Roosevelt-Rondon group reached the end of the unknown portion of the river April 15, 1914, when they sighted homes of rubber workers. Roosevelt, suffering from illness and injuries incurred during his long journey, returned from Manaos (Manaus) to New York; the group of men on the riverboat traveling on the Madeira River are probably members of Anthony Fiala’s group rather than Roosevelt’s (Fiala left the Roosevelt-Rondon party at Utiarity to descend the Papagaio, the Juruena, and the Tapajós Rivers). A map showing the location of the River of Doubt as correctly charted by the Roosevelt-Rondon Expedition is shown. The last scenes of Roosevelt on a ship were probably taken on board the Vandyck before the expedition, rather than after, since Father J. A. Zahm, who left the group at Utiarity, also appears.

Collection

Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound

Creation Date

1928