The Character and Presidency of

Theodore Roosevelt

An exhibition and sale of original historical documents, some shown here for the first time, demonstrating how TR rose to prominence and also governed as President. The pieces, which together tell a powerful story of a great American, can be browsed and purchased individually or acquired as a collection.

Before the Presidency: Roosevelt's Morality at a Young Age

Roosevelt's character and morality governed many of his decisions as President. Here, at a young age, he felt that sense of responsibility, showing a personal obligation to help support the widows and children of the men he had lived with out West and worked with in the legislature.

Browse and Purchase ~ $7,000

Before the Presidency: The Monroe Doctrine

Years before the Presidency, Roosevelt's political and diplomatic interests were developing, and, in perhaps his first such statement, TR already is showing signs of his future expansionist Presidential foreign policy.

Browse and Purchase ~ $5,500

The Era of the Rough Riders

Roosevelt rose to political fame as a leader in the famed Rough Riders unit during the Spanish American War. Here, just weeks before the outbreak of war, he welcomes a “patriotic” citizen’s desire to, like him, volunteer for the fight.

Browse and Purchase ~ $2,800

The Outdoorsman President

Roosevelt's heart was always in the wilderness. In this letter, he writes naturalist John Burroughs, describing hunting and the behavior of lynx and bobcats, before saying he must turn his attention to the Panama Canal.

Browse and Purchase ~ $12,000

The Panama Canal

Perhaps Roosevelt's crowning foreign policy achievement was the Panama Canal. It showed his dynamism, vision and leadership. In this remarkable letter, just 5 days after the United States took possession of the Panama Canal Zone, he introduces the first Governor of the Canal Zone to the President of Panama.

Browse and Purchase ~ $20,000

The 1904 Convention

TR was the Republican nominee for the 1904 election against Democratic Alton Parker. Roosevelt, in this very letter, asked his old friend to put his name up for nomination.

Browse and Purchase ~ $15,000

TR and Science

Roosevelt was not only an outdoorsman and hunter. He is perhaps the White House's most prominent naturalist, who had a great interest in nature and evolution. In this letter, to John Burroughs, he uses astute scientific observation and analysis to assert his belief in evolution.

Browse and Purchase ~ $15,000

Roosevelt the Romantic

Roosevelt lost his first wife the same day he lost his mother. Yet, though he wrote that the life had left his life, he found love yet again. And, as he write here, “No other happiness in the world is so great or so enduring as that of two lovers who remain lovers after they are married, and who never forget the tenderness and affection… all of which each must at times show to the other.”

Browse and Purchase ~ $16,000

After the Presidency: World War I

TR's sons went, as he had in 1898, to serve the nation in conflict. Although TR opposed the war, he supported it once hostilities had commenced. One of his sons, Quentin, would never return. In this letter, Roosevelt writes that his sons have gone to fight in the war and that he is disappointed that he could not fight himself.

Browse and Purchase ~ $4,500

After the Presidency: Woodrow Wilson

Roosevelt was no fan of Woodrow Wilson. Here he slams Wilson’s policies, particularly in foreign affairs: “His conduct in Mexico, his conduct in the face of Germany, and his conduct in the face of the hyphenated Americans at home, stamps him as being, on the whole, the most wretched creature we have had in the Presidential chair…”

Browse and Purchase ~ $7,500