“It is certainly a most healthy life. How a man does sleep, and how he enjoys the coarse fare!”

– Theodore Roosevelt

 

In his essay about the making of the PBS documentary, “TR: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt,” Producer David Grubin states that  “Roosevelt is a President relevant to our times because he deals with issues relevant to our times. The relationship between the government and business, the relationship between government and the environment.”

Roosevelt’s character still fascinates us. The National Park Service, the Theodore Roosevelt Association, and PBS websites contain extensive free resources containing valuable information and insights into Roosevelt’s life and work, including his thoughts and actions regarding the natural world. Roosevelt has also been in the news recently as National Park Service celebrated its 100th anniversary, and as President Barack Obama used strategies from the Roosevelt playbook to protect wilderness areas in the United States.

 

The National Park Service website has a number of articles on Theodore Roosevelt. Here are a few:

• Theodore Roosevelt and the Ranch Life
  • Theodore Roosevelt the Rancher
  • Roosevelt’s Maltese Cross Cabin
  • Roosevelt’s Elkhorn Ranch Site
• The Legacy of Theodore Roosevelt
  • Theodore Roosevelt & Conservation
  • Theodore Roosevelt Timeline
  • Theodore Roosevelt Related Web Sites
  • Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

As part of the American Experience collection, “The Presidents,” PBS produced TR, The Story of Theodore Roosevelt, which is available for purchase at pbs.org.

The website also contains the following free special features:

• Primary Resources: The Strenuous Life, 1899
• Bonus Video: Travel the Panama Canal
• General Article: Legacy
• Photo Gallery: Political Cartoons Featuring Theodore Roosevelt
• Primary Resources: Letter to King George V, 1918
• General Article: Presidential Politics

 

• Ken Burns’ seven-part, fourteen hour film documentary, “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History” chronicles the lives of Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, three members of the most prominent and influential family in American politics. The site contains activities and detailed lesson plans for grades 7-10  http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-roosevelts/classroom/, short clips from the documentary http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-roosevelts/watch-videos/, and other resources.

 

Burns collaborated with award-winning writer and producer Dayton Duncan on the six-episode documentary series “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/. Episode two, “1890–1915: The Last Refuge,” features Roosevelt’s passion for the natural world and his championing of the conservation movement. The series website contains resources, including discussion guides and lesson plans for grades 7-10, on this important aspect of TR’s life and character.

• The Theodore Roosevelt Association website has a wealth of information about TR, including sound files and images, links to other TR sites, anecdotes, and quotations, and curriculum-based lesson plans for grades 5-12.

Explore at: http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/

• I found a trove of Roosevelt photos (including the ones in this post) at The Library of Congress.

You can access them here.

 

• The historian Douglas Brinkley recently dubbed President Barack Obama “a 21st-century Theodore Roosevelt.”  In her September 12, 2016 New Yorker  article, “Obama the Conservationist,” Elizabeth Kolbert portrays President Barack Obama as the new Theodore Roosevelt for invoking the Antiquities Act, which was signed into law by Roosevelt in 1906 (The act allows the President to create national monuments “by public proclamation.”) to put more acreage under protection than any other President, though the bulk of it is underwater.  

Read here: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/12/obama-the-conservationist

Join TR on the Chautauqua stage this summer! For more info visit: http://www.ohiohumanities.org/ohio-chautauqua/