Vintage and Antique Roosevelt Memorabilia

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For collectors of political memorabilia, the word “Roosevelt” can refer to any of three towering figures in United States history. First up chronologically is Theodore Roosevelt, who became the 26th President of the United States when the 25th,...
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For collectors of political memorabilia, the word “Roosevelt” can refer to any of three towering figures in United States history. First up chronologically is Theodore Roosevelt, who became the 26th President of the United States when the 25th, William McKinley, was assassinated. “Teddy,” as he was often called, is followed by his cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt, the nation’s 32nd—and longest-serving—commander in chief. Then, of course, there’s Eleanor Roosevelt, who was a model for all future first ladies when she lived in the White House with her husband, FDR, and remained politically active long after his death, serving on the United Nations Commission for Human Rights for seven years before chairing the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women created by John F. Kennedy. Teddy Roosevelt memorabilia is unique in that the most common TR-inspired object is not a piece of political memorabilia at all. It is, of course, the teddy bear, which was first produced in 1902 by a Brooklyn, New York, couple named Morris and Rose Michtom. Their inspiration was a political cartoon by Clifford K. Berryman of the “Washington Post,” in which President Roosevelt gallantly refuses to shoot a bear cub that had been tied to a tree so that he could kill the animal. Roosevelt’s sportsmanship begat the Michtom’s "Teddy's Bear," which sold so well the couple was able to finance their Ideal Novelty and Toy Company. In fact, the teddy bear was not the first object of amusement based on the exploits of Theodore Roosevelt. In 1899, Parker Brothers introduced a board game called “The Rough Riders” that romanticized the then lieutenant colonel’s leadership of a volunteer force of more than 1,000 men and horses in several battles on the island of Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Rough Rider images of Roosevelt would continue to be used through Roosevelt’s career, often on campaign buttons. Nor was the bear the only animal associated with Theodore Roosevelt: In 1912, when...
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