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President Roosevelt is glad to hear from Rough Rider Clifton F. Hodge and agrees with him, but unfortunately the national government can not help. Roosevelt is dealing with the same issue regarding the protection of elk. He has sent Hodge’s letter to Clinton Hart Merriam, the head of the Bureau of Biological Survey.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-09-29
Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary asks August Donath, Superintendent of Documents at the Government Printing Office, to send a copy of each book in a series that was issued by the Biological Survey. He believes it is called “North American Fauna” and is numbered one through thirty-two. If Donath can send the books, the secretary will ensure a check is sent as payment.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-07-12
President Roosevelt apologizes to Lincoln A. Lang for lacking the power to execute changes to game preserves. Roosevelt promises to forward Lang’s concerns to C. Hart Merriam, the head of the Bureau of Biological Survey.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-21
President Roosevelt is forwarding the letter and photograph from Charles Courtney Grieve to Dr. C. Hart Merriam of the Biological Survey because it is such an “extraordinary occurrence”.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-23
President Roosevelt asks Secretary of Agriculture Wilson if the salaries for the chief of the Bureau of Biological Survey and his first assistants can be increased. They are less than corresponding salaries in other bureaus, like the Bureau of Entomology.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-01-06
President Roosevelt asks Representative Wadsworth to support the Senate change that provides funding for relocating two elk herds and raising the Biological Survey to bureau rank.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-02-18
A statement authored by William T. Hornaday criticizes the Sulzer bill which would allow for the sale of moose, caribou, and white mountain sheep meat in Northern Alaska. Hornaday reports that he and several prominent game conservation associations were shocked to discover that the legal sale of big game in Alaska had been occurring for some time.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1918-03-04
William T. Hornaday writes that the situation with Attorney General Gregory is “intolerable” and deserving of a congressional investigation. He also encourages Theodore Roosevelt to chastise Edward William Nelson and Charles Sheldon about the proposed sale of big game in Alaska. Hornaday believes that Roosevelt’s ear will recover, as his own did in 1906.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1918-03-08
L. C. Sanford introduces himself to Theodore Roosevelt, and asks him if he might be willing to write a letter of introduction to the government of Newfoundland, Canada, in order to allow himself and Edward William Nelson to travel there for some time to collect biological specimens. Nelson is in poor health, and may stay in the more healthy climate there for some time, but requires a permit from the government in order to do so. Sanford has written to the Newfoundland government previously, but has not gotten any results and hopes that Roosevelt’s influence may help produce an answer.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06-08
Ernest Thompson Seton relays details on his recent meeting with C. Hart Merriam discussing Merriam’s “magnum opus” on North American mammals. Merriam, being a civil servant, cannot take more than six months’ leave to work on his research. If Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson were to request a list of mammals in North America beneficial to agriculture and commerce, this would cut Merriam’s work by at least one-third.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-20
Virginia Elizabeth Gosnell Merriam informs President Roosevelt that her husband, C. Hart Merriam, cannot quickly finish his manuscript on Mammals of North America as his current salary is not enough for him to hire clerical assistants.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-21
Henry W. Henshaw, Acting Chief of the Biological Survey, confirms receipt of a wolf skull from President Roosevelt and says it is of value for study due to the locality represented.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-01
A. K. Fisher responds to Robert Bridges’s inquiries about squirrel species. Spermophilus annulatus does not occur north of Mexico, spermophilus armatus occurs in the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains and Yellowstone Park, and the similar spermophilus elegans is found in Colorado. Citellus is the more commonly used generic word for spermophilus.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-08-19