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Photographs of the library at Sagamore Hill, Theodore Roosevelt’s Oyster Bay, New York home. Various animal heads and portraits adorn the walls, including one of Roosevelt’s father, Theodore Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1912-1918
This newspaper article discusses the genealogical connections between the Sulgrave family of Warwickshire, England, and George Washington.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-09-14
President Roosevelt addressed the Grand Lodge of Freemasons of Pennsylvania upon the sesquicentennial celebration of the initiation of George Washington in Philadelphia. He spoke of the lessons that can be learned from Washington and Masonry.
1902-11-05
President Roosevelt encourages William H. Taft to accept a substantial campaign contribution from William Nelson Cromwell, and to have him serve on an advisory board. Roosevelt points out that Elihu Root made a large contribution to his campaign in 1904, but that did not stop him from appointing Root Secretary of State when the opportunity arose.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-07
President Roosevelt disagrees with the Nebraska Republican Party’s platform, as he believes the restrictions it proposes placing on the federal judiciary would be tantamount to eliminating the federal government. The resolution is as bad as secession, even if it was well-intentioned. He does not want Senator Burkett to publish his letter and bring greater attention to the matter, but he may share it with leaders of the convention as needed.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-09-27
President Roosevelt has been reading the works of former President Thomas Jefferson and concludes that the Constitution is meant to adapt to the country through the decisions of the Supreme Court. As he spends more time with the wealthy, he is convinced of their “entire unfitness” for government. Despite their good intentions, Roosevelt believes that these elites are out of touch with the common people. Roosevelt has a low opinion of Jefferson’s presidency, but notes that he was popular in his time.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-09-21
President Roosevelt shares editor of the Churchman Silas McBee’s interest in and puzzlement over the sermon of Bishop Charles Henry Brent of the Philippines, which he analytically criticizes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-27
President Roosevelt regrets to inform the Committee of Arrangement for the Celebration of the Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of General Robert E. Lee that he will not be able to attend their celebration. However, he would like to join them in honoring Lee’s life and career as a “great soldier and high-minded citizen whose fame is now a matter of pride to all our countrymen.” He reflects on Lee’s life, character, and accomplishments and describes a man who “in the closing years of his life, served those who sorely needed what he so freely gave.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-16
Charles I. Williams writes to Theodore Roosevelt about the recently incorporated Westmoreland Historical Association, since he knows both Roosevelt and Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt are interested in Virginia. Williams tells Roosevelt about the association and their goal of preserving historic sites, and invites Roosevelt to become a member.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-14
W. P. Chase acknowledges he is a stranger to Theodore Roosevelt, but Roosevelt knows some of his relations and this can prove his legitimacy. Chase has become a contracted seller for Arthur W. Arnold’s patented stove damper, which he says regulates combustion on stoves and furnaces to save on fuel usage. He hopes Roosevelt would consider becoming a business partner, and presents this from a philanthropic viewpoint to appeal to Roosevelt’s appreciation for philanthropy, as he claims the damper will benefit the poor the most. Chase hopes to meet Roosevelt in New York.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-12
Harper Pennington praises Charles M. Shean’s portrait of Abraham Lincoln.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-16
Henry P. Curtis describes a recent publication on European natural history that he believes Theodore Roosevelt might be interested in. He explains how many towns were named after the animals that once resided there, such as Wolverhampton (wolves).
Curtis also shares with Roosevelt that his father was a Whig, while Curtis is a Republican. He expresses admiration for Senator John Sherman, discusses his political adversaries, and wishes that Sherman, Alexander Hamilton, and Daniel Webster could have been presidents.
Ernst Hertzberg asks Theodore Roosevelt to send a handwritten letter for his autograph collection and offers to bind a book for him in return.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-13
Owen Wister laments to President Roosevelt that he did not receive the president’s letter until after Wister sent him a telegram. Wister regrets he cannot fulfill a request the president made, although Wister has many questions he would like to ask and hopes to visit in the spring. Wister hopes to dedicate his new biography of George Washington to Roosevelt because he sees many parallels between the two presidents, especially in their conflicts with Congress over fiscal policy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-04-10
Judge Speer provides historical justification for President Roosevelt’s actions in the Brownsville affair, involving the mass dishonorable discharge of African American soldiers, citing George Washington’s similar discharge of rowdy troops. Speer also mentions the Raid on Deerfield during Queen Anne’s War and the siege of Magdeburg during the Thirty Years’ War. Speer disagrees with Senator Tillman’s assessment that Roosevelt “lynched” the discharged soldiers, as did the editorial boards of several prominent Georgia newspapers.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-14
Judge Emory Speer of Georgia seems to be of the opinion that President Roosevelt “did not proceed without authority and certainly not without precedent” when he discharged without honor the African American troops involved in the “shooting up” of Brownsville, Texas, comparing the situation to an incident involving George Washington and the “Connecticut Light Horse” militia. Speer notes that the language of Article 5 of the Federal Constitution suggests that a “different method of punishment” can be inflicted by the President when crimes are committed by members of land and naval forces.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-09
David P. Barrows argues that fear is the most primal human emotion, and that even children understand the importance of overcoming fear, although adults do not help them do so. He discusses the importance of cultivating courage in people of all ages.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-02-06
Francis Davis Millet criticizes the design of a medal of George Washington discussed in a newspaper clipping he has enclosed, saying that it fails to capture Washington’s noble characteristics. Millet stresses the importance of a medallist’s duty to capture a President’s features, as a medal will survive after all other forms of art have disappeared. He hopes that Theodore Roosevelt will have a medal that will “hold its own.” He also sends a set of eight medals struck by the French mint as examples of what he means by “nobility in a medal.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-01-13
Katherine Cabell Claiborne informs S. Weir Mitchell of the progress that the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Virginia are making in the restoration of the graves of Augustine and Jane Washington. She also writes that the Virginia Dames have copied, printed, and put on sale the parish register of St. Peter’s Church, where Martha Washington attended. If that is a success, they will copy the parish vestry as well.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-12-15
President Roosevelt holds a “third term” teddy bear in his hand and thinks about George Washington and Ulysses S. Grant each holding up one hand with “no third term” papers beside them.
The great Eugene Zimmerman (“Zim”), Swiss immigrant who had drawn for Puck in the early 1880s and then was a mainstay on its Republican rival Judge into the 1920s, was noted at this time in his career for outrageous comic drawing, humor cartoons, and ethnic lampoons. Occasionally he drew political cartoons, and “?” is as serious a treatment as any cartoonist could have drawn about President Roosevelt’s dilemma regarding the 1908 election.