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Postcard featuring a photograph of the lion display at the Smithsonian Institution. The lions in the display were collected by Theodore Roosevelt while on safari in 1909.
1910-1913
Unknown
English
President Roosevelt informs Ambassador Jusserand that he is looking forward to his African safari and that he intends to collect specimens for the Smithsonian Institution. Roosevelt also confides that he is pleased that he is on the side of ordered liberty by stepping away from the power of the presidency. Roosevelt also discusses some of the books he has been reading, and he comments on the status of Venezuela and Morocco.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1908-08-03
Francis P. McManamon examines the origins of the Antiquities Act of 1906 that President Theodore Roosevelt and his successors used to safeguard natural and scientific sites across the United States. McManamon asserts that it was threats to ancient archaeological sites across the American Southwest that led to calls for greater government intervention, and he highlights the case of the Casa Grande ruins in Arizona. McManamon notes the work of private organizations, government agencies, individuals, and members of Congress, most importantly Congressman John F. Lacey of Iowa, who worked to save important sites before the passage of the Antiquities Act. McManamon traces the slow path to passage of the Antiquities Act, and he highlights its important text and provisions. He notes how Roosevelt used the act to set aside eighteen national monuments, and he asserts that Roosevelt’s actions, especially in regards to the Grand Canyon of Arizona, set important precedents for his successors, especially President Bill Clinton.
Two photographs and two illustrations supplement the text.
Harry N. Lembeck interviews James Bruns, the new President of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA). Bruns discusses his background in museum and historical society work, especially his tenure with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and his work with the Atlanta, Georgia, Historical Society. Most of the interview focuses on the TRA’s plans to build a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Museum and Research Center. Bruns discusses the purposes of the museum, its possible location, financing, and its importance to the future of the TRA. A photograph of Bruns appears on the first page of the interview.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
2007-04-03
The Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) announces that James Bruns has been appointed the President of the TRA. The announcement highlights Bruns’s previous work with the Smithsonian Institution, the Atlanta Historical Society, and the Atlanta History Center. A text box with information about the TRA and its journal appears next to the announcement.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
2007
This edition of “News and Notes” reports on the annual awards supported by the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) conferred by the American Museum of Natural History, the Roosevelt Study Center, and the Navy League of the United States. The section lists all of the winners of the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize as well as the current judges. “News and Notes” also contains an article about the return of six pieces of china to Bulloch Hall in Roswell, Georgia. The section concludes with two pages of news about the TRA, including its adoption of email, fundraising efforts, and the various programs it supports. Two photographs, one each from the Roosevelt Study Center and Bulloch Hall, supplement the text.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1996
Three works come under consideration in the “Book Reviews” section. Cole Patrick looks at both the 1941 and 1989 editions of the Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia. He comments on the work of Albert Bushnell Hart in compiling and editing the first edition, and he quotes from William Allen White’s foreword from 1941. Patrick explains the various additions made to the 1989 edition by John A. Gable of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA), including a bibliography, a chronology of Theodore Roosevelt’s life, and a history of the TRA.
Tweed Roosevelt examines Bartle Bull’s Safari: A Chronicle of Adventure and highlights its coverage of Theodore Roosevelt’s African safari of 1909-1910, and he also looks at other figures, British and American, who made safaris. He praises the book’s organization and illustrations but faults it for not giving a sense of who the hunters were as people, Roosevelt included. Marilyn E. Weigold praises Elizabeth Winthrop’s novel, In My Mother’s House, for its “precise descriptions of life in Manhattan in the last few decades of the nineteenth century.” The novel’s main character is based on the life of the daughter of Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, Theodore Roosevelt’s sister.
This edition of “News and Notes” opens with coverage of the commissioning of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. A letter from Captain Paul W. Parcells, Commanding Officer of the ship, praises the work of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) in making the commissioning a success. The section also discusses the thirteen flags donated by the TRA to the carrier. Each flag of the city, state, or entity is identified and is followed by a brief paragraph about its history and meaning to Theodore Roosevelt. The individual responsible for donating the flag is also noted. A notice about a new prize, the Roosevelts Gold Medal, awarded by the New York Council of the Navy League of the United States, also features in the section.
“News and Notes” reviews the plans of Prism Entertainment to issue a video cassette of the film “The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt,” and it notes that the company will establish a fund to promote historical and environmental films, and will donate money to the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Fund at the American Museum of Natural History. The section also highlights two recent publications by John A. Gable, Editor of the TRA Journal, and it quotes from a letter from President Ronald Reagan on the occasion of the opening of the Roosevelt Study Center in the Netherlands. “News and Notes” closes by quoting from three letters by members of the TRA praising its work.
Paul Russell Cutright examines the donation of Theodore Roosevelt’s bird collection to the Smithsonian Institution and the American Museum of Natural History. Cutright focuses on the donation to the Smithsonian since it was very large, 622 bird skins, and he details how the collection was cataloged, where and to whom individual specimens were dispersed, and he highlights some of the more notable specimens like the Snowy owl.
Pictures of Theodore Roosevelt and his father and a copy of two pages of the accession records of the Smithsonian accompany the article. The cover of this issue features a picture of the Snowy owl shot, prepared, and donated to the American Museum of Natural History by Roosevelt.
A listing of the officers of the Theodore Roosevelt Association along with the members of its executive, finance, and Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace committees is on the second page of the article.
In the “Book Notes” column, John A. Gable reviews Bully: An Adventure With Teddy Roosevelt which consists of the script of the play of the same name, complemented by eight pages of photographs. Gable quotes from a review of the play and from Theodore Roosevelt IV’s introduction to the book. Gable, as he did in the case of the play and film adaptation, praises the book and author Jerome Alden because he “does not tailor T.R. to fit current social or ideological fashions.”
Marvin R. Morrison reviews The End of the Game: The Last Word from Paradise which deals with the plight of the African elephant. Theodore Roosevelt’s hunting and his African safari of 1909 figure in the book and review. Morrison quotes Roosevelt, lists some of his fellow hunters, and argues that hunters are conservationists.
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.
David Eugene Conrad examines the relationship between President Theodore Roosevelt and retired naval officer George T. Emmons. Roosevelt made Emmons “his principal adviser on Alaska,” and tasked him with helping to resolve a boundary dispute with Canada and with examining the condition of Native American tribes who were suffering at the hands of white settlers and miners. Conrad notes how Roosevelt used Emmons to go around the federal government bureaucracy, especially in the Department of the Interior. He stresses Emmons’s concern for the plight of the native tribes of Alaska, and he notes that some of his recommendations to Roosevelt were made into law by acts of Congress.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1977
Charles D. Walcott updates Theodore Roosevelt on the progress of the specimens being preserved by James L. Clark from the Smithsonian-Roosevelt African Expedition. A number of white rhinoceroses and different types of antelopes are in the process of being quoted by the taxidermist. Walcott thinks the Smithsonian will be able to publish Roosevelt’s article soon as well.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06-16
The Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution expresses its gratitude to President Roosevelt for his offer related to his upcoming safari trip, and accepts it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-15
President Roosevelt thanks Frank M. Chapman for the photographs, and thinks that Herbert Lang would be a perfect person to bring on his safari. Unfortunately, Roosevelt is going in service of the Smithsonian Institution, as he promised Charles D. Walcott, and guesses that the American Museum of Natural History would not care to lend Lang to the Smithsonian for this purpose. Roosevelt’s son, Kermit Roosevelt, will come visit soon.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-06
President Roosevelt thanks Eugene Meyer for his letter. He suggests that Meyer and Gutzon Borglum come to show him where the bust should be placed. It has been suggested that a better place could be found through the Smithsonian Institution and the National Gallery of Art, but he would like Meyer’s and Borglum’s input.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-04-08
This postcard is number three in a series. Description is given on reverse: “An interesting group viewing Mombassa from the ship’s rail. Reading from left to right we have Messrs. Roosevelt, Selous, Mearns, and Kermit Roosevelt. Mr. Selous is the most famous living American hunter; Mr. Mearns represents the Smithsonian Institute and has charge of all the taxidermy work of the expedition.”
1909
After his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt took part in a safari through parts of eastern and central Africa, funded and organized by the Smithsonian Institution. In this film, Roosevelt and members of his party appear in different locations, all probably in the vicinity of Mt. Kenya, British East Africa (Kenya), in 1909. There are views of Kikuyu and/or Masai ritual dances, shots of Roosevelt and party with tribesmen, campsite porters busy at work, and Roosevelt on horseback. The film also contains several views of what is probably part of the large Kikuyu dance performed in Roosevelt’s honor at Nyeri in August, with a small number of Masai also participating. There is a view of large number of what may be Masai women ceremonially forming circle, through which men with shields pass.
Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound
1909
Kermit Roosevelt updates the Fergusons on his activities at school and the Roosevelt family. He jokes about Martha Ferguson catching skunks and feels he may qualify as a second-assistant skunk catcher. Roosevelt recently visited Edmund Heller and Edgar Alexander Mearns at the Smithsonian Institution to watch them work on bird and rodent specimens.
1911-02-11