Your TR Source
Theodore Roosevelt writes to William Morrow expressing his pleasure that the elephant head is to stay where it is.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-13
Theodore Roosevelt found William Eleroy Curtis’ story amusing. Judge Ben Lindsey said the magazine publisher was hired to discredit him and took the opportunity to attack Roosevelt by “lying maliciously.” Roosevelt explains that he collected the ostriches and eggs for the Smithsonian Institute.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1910-12-02
Theodore Roosevelt permits Edmund Heller to lecture but wishes he would be paid for his efforts. He is pleased with Heller’s progress on the African zoological collection.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1910-11-29
Theodore Roosevelt thanks George Herbert Sherwood for the check. He enjoyed giving the lecture. Roosevelt would like Sherwood to tell President Osborn that he has just received the skin, the fragments of a rib, and some of the dung of the Mylodon. Roosevelt thinks they should be in the American Museum of Natural History.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-01-04
Theodore Roosevelt is relieved that the specimens did not go down on the Van Dyck.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-12-16
Theodore Roosevelt is concerned about some of the specimens from the Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Exposition which have not arrived at the museum. He is concerned that they might have gone down with the S. S. Vandyck, which was sunk by a German cruiser off the coast of Brazil. Roosevelt requests that Edwin T. Morgan investigate what has happened to the specimens. He is pleased that Morgan translated his Outlook article and will send Morgan a pamphlet of his writings about the ongoing war.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-11-28
Theodore Roosevelt has had Edgar Alexander Mearns detailed from the army and under the direction of Charles D. Walcott of the Smithsonian Institution. Larger animals on the expedition will be shot by Theodore or Kermit Roosevelt. Roosevelt is interested in adding reptiles and freshwater fish to the specimens collected. The curing and transportation of the specimens will be paid for by the Smithsonian.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-03
President Roosevelt thanks William T. Hornaday for his book. Roosevelt will tell Hornaday of his luck in Africa upon his return. Roosevelt states that wilderness means more to him than the game itself and that he kills animals only for meat or scientific purposes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-30
One of Theodore Roosevelt’s sons shot a hawk at Pine Knot. The hawk had recently eaten a pine mouse, beetle, and four grasshoppers.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-12-31
Theodore Roosevelt overestimated the weight of the grizzly bear and explains this to J. Alden Loring.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-03-19
Theodore Roosevelt sends C. Hart Merriam a list of deer specimens. Roosevelt had arranged for the skulls to be kept with the skins and is sorry that this was not done. The specimens were obtained twenty miles from Frederick, Oklahoma.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-05-31
Theodore Roosevelt is interested in all of the skins C. Hart Merriam sent. He has seen squirrels larger and lighter than the pine squirrel Merriam shared with him. Roosevelt would like to be reminded what kind of vole he sent Merriam from Yellowstone Park.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-05-15
Theodore Roosevelt is interested in the squirrels and makes observations about their size and coloration.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-05-18
Edgar Alexander Mearns has known Theodore Roosevelt since 1874. They collected natural history specimens on the Hudson River. Mearns and Roosevelt had a “speaking acquaintance” when Roosevelt was civil service commissioner. This document is a fragment.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1913-05
President Roosevelt is enjoying his time in Yellowstone with John Burroughs and encloses a skin and skull of a male microtus with measurements. Roosevelt encourages Dr. Merriam to “write the great monumental work on the mammals of North America.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-04-22
Theodore Roosevelt tells C. Hart Merriam that the five bobcat skulls are Merriam’s to keep. Merriam has given Roosevelt the information he wanted about deer. Roosevelt wishes that he had known that Merriam wanted blacktail deer specimens. He could have gotten these from the Little Missouri.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-05-29
Theodore Roosevelt has sent the missing mountain lion skull to C. Hart Merriam. This was the only cougar Roosevelt shot in the head, “I hung over a cliff by moonlight and brained it as it lay on a ledge below me.” Roosevelt used a 30-30 Winchester to shoot the mountain lion. He fears it will be of little use except for the teeth. Roosevelt asks Merriam for any pamphlets about deer in the U.S.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-05-14
Vice President Roosevelt will quote five or six of C. Hart Merriam’s lines in his article. Roosevelt has found his twelfth skull and asks if he should send it onto Merriam. Roosevelt would also like to know if the skulls should be kept in the skins or not. Roosevelt asks Merriam what he found out about the bobcat skulls.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-05-06
Theodore Roosevelt asks C. Hart Merriam if he has received the skulls, skins, and Roosevelt’s note on them. Roosevelt is eager to send his article on the hunt to Scribner’s.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-05-04
Theodore Roosevelt writes to C. Hart Merriam about the meaning of the word “species.” He feels the use of the word is simply a question of terminology. Roosevelt also recalls an argument between himself and Merriam about the connection between coyotes and wolves. Roosevelt also anticipates a delivery of lynx skins and skulls, as well as cougar skulls.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-04-08