Your TR Source
President Roosevelt says the house feels empty without Kermit and Ted and reports on the activities of the rest of the family. C. Grant La Farge and Owen Wister are coming to visit.
1903-09-23
President Roosevelt would like to speak to Richard Watson Gilder personally about the matter he refers to in the letter. Gilder should also talk to Owen Wister. Roosevelt believes the man who is to write about him should be someone “who has lived near the rough side of things,” such as William Allen White.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-09-21
President Roosevelt writes to his son Kermit about his heavy workload. He says he can hardly find time to exercise and finds himself delegating a lot of duties, leaving time to develop his really big policies. Roosevelt also says he feels his Cabinet is just about ideal. He closes by mentioning a visit by Owen Wister.
1907-05-04
President Roosevelt is trying to catch up with Captain Edwards. Roosevelt knows the record of service that Edwards has and if there is something Edwards desires he would be pleased to grant it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-09-11
Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary is unaware of quotations from Henry Labouchère regarding Roosevelt. He will be unable to provide the other opinions on Roosevelt requested by Elizabeth Towne, as they do not keep clippings which reference Roosevelt. The secretary suggests numerous people whom Towne could contact for these opinions.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-10-03
Theodore Roosevelt recalls his time ranching in North Dakota and his acquaintance with Mr. Foley. He relates a story about run-away horses in which the poet played a part, confirming that Foley writes his “Western sketches” not out of books but from his own experiences.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1916
Theodore Roosevelt shares with Frederick W. Whitridge his opinion of an article by Owen Wister regarding the United States and the war in Europe. Roosevelt finds the article good, but the conclusion weak, as Roosevelt believes America has no business being politically neutral. He further criticizes President Wilson for not firmly addressing German aggression. Roosevelt notes that a letter he read from Whitridge’s son Arnold Whitridge, who is fighting in the trenches in Europe, is “capital”. Roosevelt sympathizes with the anxiety Whitridge must feel but also wishes his own sons were fighting with Arnold Whitridge.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-07-10
Theodore Roosevelt is to address the Philadelphia Geographical Society. Roosevelt writes to J. William White about having some of their friends to breakfast.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-03-23
Theodore Roosevelt would like Langdon Elwyn Mitchell to spend a night at Sagamore Hill, along with Thomas Robins, Owen Wister, and Dr. White. Roosevelt agrees with Mitchell’s view about President Woodrow Wilson and Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan and would rather have Boies Penrose in their place while also believing William H. Taft to be just as bad as Wilson and Bryan. Roosevelt asks Mitchell if he has read Roosevelt’s book America and the World War.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-02-13
President Roosevelt is worried about Owen Wister’s health and thanks Mary Channing Wister for bringing their children to visit.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-03-03
President Roosevelt hopes that Mary Channing Wister’s husband, Owen Wister, recovers from his illness soon. He completely agrees with the statement she sent, and has forwarded it to Commissioner of Education Elmer Ellsworth Brown. Roosevelt sends his love to the “blessed chicks.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-03
President Roosevelt writes to Florence Bayard Lockwood La Farge about Jane Addams’s book. He criticizes her stance against militarism. Roosevelt compares Addams to Leo Tolstoy in their similar actions in speaking out against war and industrialism, but being ultimately misguided in their argument that because there are hardships that result from these, they should be entirely abandoned, rather than acknowledging the positives and working to alleviate the negatives. It is just as bad, Roosevelt says, to preach unrighteous peace as to preach unrighteous war, and even more foolish.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-02-13
President Roosevelt will not let his “gloom at thirty years of Harvard’s defeat in athletics” make him surprised at the quality of scholarship from Yale. He believes that Yale’s Thomas R. Lounsbury is the foremost scholar in the country. He asks Charles Hitchcock Sherrill if he saw Owen Wister’s address at Harvard where he alluded to Gifford Pinchot. He also invites Sherrill and his wife to come to the diplomatic reception and dinner on January 9.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-01-01
President Roosevelt reports to Kermit Roosevelt that his week has been busy yet uneventful, but he wishes he had more time to exercise. He almost feels ashamed for leaving detailed work to the department heads, but it is the only way he has time to “develop the really big policies.” It was a beautiful, “real spring” day.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-05-04
President Theodore Roosevelt introduces Mr. F. A. Eustis to Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot. Eustis will represent people interested in a project started by Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, a friend of Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-03-14
President Roosevelt sends his sister, Anna Roosevelt Cowles a deed to some land, and explains that he has agreed to get permission from his cousin, William Emlen Roosevelt, to build some buildings on the southernmost portion of his beach. Roosevelt would be happy to pay Cowles any price she wishes, and wants her to talk it over with her husband, William S. Cowles. Roosevelt mentions several people who have visited him recently.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-15
President Roosevelt and Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt were delighted by Winthrop Chanler’s letter, and Roosevelt remarks that Chanler wrote many things that he wished to write to Owen Wister, “but had not the heart to.” Wister’s other works have been very good, but Roosevelt was sorry to have him write his recent book. Roosevelt believes the beef business will come out all right, and will add to the large number of things achieved by the current Congress. He would have liked to visit with Chanler longer last Sunday, and hopes that he will come visit the Roosevelts soon. Roosevelt jokes about Chanler “looking as if [he] were under thirty while [Roosevelt] is feeling like a worn-out and crippled old man.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-06-23
President Roosevelt thanks Mary Channing Wister for the nice note. It was a pleasure to have her husband, Owen Wister, visit.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-05-07
President Roosevelt wishes he could come visit C. Grant La Farge, but he has found that while he is president his vacations need to be at his home at Sagamore Hill. While that is the case, however, he invites La Farge to visit him with his wife, Florence Bayard La Farge, and instructs him to bring Owen Wister, if possible. He was proud to read what La Farge wrote about his son, Ted Roosevelt. Roosevelt was amused at the furor his going down in the submarine Plunger caused, especially because his son and La Farge were in more danger sailing on top of the water that day.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-08-31
President Roosevelt is glad that Owen Wister, often called Dan by his family, is improving.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-04-30