Your TR Source
President Roosevelt is familiar with Arthur Donaldson Smith’s book and has most of the books on African big game animals. He heartily agrees with Henry Wellington Wack regarding wolves.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-22
President Roosevelt returns Major Munson’s letter, which he found interesting. The letter confirmed what Roosevelt and Caspar Whitney have discussed about wolves. Roosevelt has heard of the existence of both white and black wolves on the Little Missouri River, and he has seen a picture by John James Audubon of a wolf pack with a white wolf.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-31
Theodore Roosevelt sends C. Hart Merriam the injured skull of a male wolf he caught in Montana in 1889. The specimen may be of no value.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-27
President Roosevelt thanks Professor Henry Bryant Bigelow for his letter, and remarks on the extraordinary disappearance of Newfoundland wolves as “one of our numerous zoological puzzles.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-11
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.
R. M. Norboe is pleased that conservationist John M. Phillips has called upon President Roosevelt and that Phillips is so interested in protecting Pennsylvania game, which Norboe believes is a step in the right direction. Norboe describes an encounter he had with a pack of wolves while hunting. He encloses a picture of the skin of a bear killed in Alaska.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-23
“The investor” sits in a tree holding onto a bag of money while President Roosevelt grabs “the sheep’s clothing” off the “financial wolf” at the base of the tree.
Who is scaring whom? The investor with his money-bag is up a tree, but President Roosevelt intervenes in the cartoon by Payne, revealing a wolf under sheep’s clothing — a “financial” wolf.
President Roosevelt sits at his desk and reads, “How to Bag Gray Wolves.” “Pilgrim’s Progress” and a small “Senate” man are on the ground. A sign on Roosevelt’s chair reads, “This is not the time to hunt bears. T. R.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-04-22
Czar Nicholas II of Russia clutches against his chest a doll that is wearing a crown labeled “Autocracy” as he races through the woods in a troika pursued by a pack of angry, ravenous wolves.
Keppler’s cartoon is a simple depiction of a simple situation, or, in the eyes of the Czar and his dwindling number of supporters, a complicated situation.
David Bennett Hill, as a wolf wearing a sheep skin labeled “Parker Boom,” stands on a bluff overlooking a herd of sheep labeled “Democratic Patronage.”
Democrat David B. Hill had served as New York’s lieutenant governor, governor, and United States senator, but never as United States president, though not for want of trying, or ambition. He had a peripatetic career, supporting and opposing Grover Cleveland, supporting and opposing William Jennings Bryan, favoring both free silver and the gold standard. It was difficult to determine whether such malleable positions hurt his public support, or was his his attempt to gain support.
Theodore Roosevelt sends C. Hart Merriam the skin and skeleton of a wolf killed about fifty miles north of Quebec on the Tourelli Club grounds.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1917-01-15
President Roosevelt cannot provide any definite information about the matter Colman Dudley Frank wrote him about. Usually he has seen wolves in “straggling parties,” but once or twice he has seen them traveling in single file.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-02
President Roosevelt informs James A. Cruikshank that he is already familiar with Henry Wellington Wack’s book, but has not really studied it. Roosevelt would like to speak with Wack next winter, if it is possible. Additionally, Roosevelt wonders if Cruikshank has any articles on wolves.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-03
President Roosevelt takes great pleasure in the book that John Burroughs wrote about him. Roosevelt is having an interesting hunt, but does not think he will get any bear. Roosevelt discusses some of the sights he has encountered on his trip, including various wildlife and flora.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-10-13
President Roosevelt approves the use of a portion of a manuscript by George Shiras about wolves for publication in The Outing Magazine. Roosevelt reminds Caspar Whitney to use the excerpt as a repudiation of William J. Long’s writings.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-16
President Roosevelt addresses the entire editorial board of The Outlook, as he is unsure which particular editor “had his mind all turned askew” by the writings of William J. Long. Roosevelt appreciates The Outlook’s coverage of topics such as the Brownsville Incident, race relations in San Francisco, and railroad rate legislation, but he takes strong exception to The Outlook describing his distaste for Long’s writing a “controversy.” Roosevelt condems Long’s writings and describes him as a “cheap imposter” who does not observe nature but fabricates nature stories that could not possibly happen. Roosevelt takes issue with The Oulook’s assertions about his comments on Long’s writing, and discusses in detail the “mechanical”—not “mathematical”—impossibility of a wolf killing a caribou with a single bite as Long describes. Roosevelt suggests several naturalists in New York the editors can consult in matters of “nature fakers,” and offers to go page by page through one of Long’s books with The Outlook special nature editor.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-03
Theodore Roosevelt believes he was correct about the passenger pigeons he saw. He includes evidence in the form of a letter written by Joseph Wilmer, whose place Plain Dealing is near Roosevelt’s Pine Knot. Roosevelt also includes an excerpt from George Shiras discussing various topics, including the timber wolf and how lynx hunt, and disagreeing with William J. Long’s texts on the subjects.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-06-08
President Roosevelt would be pleased to have Ellen Velvin dedicate her book to him. He encourages Velvin to include Frank Baker’s statement about wolves, as “what we want are accurate statements of fact, even if they contradict one another.” Roosevelt assures Velvin that he believes in her and is interested in her success.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-04-09
President Roosevelt asks Samuel Hubbard not to publish their correspondence about “the cougar matter.” Roosevelt would not have written if he had known there was a chance that it would be published.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-12-02
President Roosevelt informs Cecil Andrew Lyon that he would be delighted to hunt for wolves on his upcoming trip, but insists that no wolves be “loosed for that purpose.” Roosevelt recalls the Mississippi bear hunting incident and the mockery that ensued.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-03-16