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VANVALKENBURG PAPERS
183
●
(ROOSEVELT, THEODORE.) Archive of correspondence to Edwin A. Van
Valkenburg, each item Signed, or Signed and Inscribed, by members of the Roosevelt fam-
ily and others, including 12 by President Theodore (4 ALsS, 7 TLsS,ANS), three by his wife
Edith (2 ALsS, ANS) and two by their son Archibald (ALS, TLS), on various personal and
political topics. Format and condition vary. Many with the original envelope. (TFC)
Vp, 1913-21
[6,000/9,000]
Theodore Roosevelt. TLS: “. . . I am
immensely amused at what you tell me
about the reactionary manufacturers and
my tariff deliverance. You must have
grinned when you saw it, having in
remembrance who inspired the said
utterance!” 1 page, 4to. New York, 31
January 1913 * TLS: “. . . . I cannot
resist telling you of something I hear said
about you and me . . . . [:] ‘Mr Van
Valkenburg and Col. Roosevelt are the
only two men I have ever known who,
when asked to go on in the fight for
decency, do not respond “Oh! what’s the
use?”’ . . . .” 1 page, 4to. 30 August
1913 * TLS: “. . . From Indiana west
the Progressive Party has its roots
deeply down and I think it is possible
that the situation may turn in our favor
here in the east. . . . But we cannot be
sure that the Party
as a party
will con-
tinue.” 1
1
/
2
pages. 11 December 1914
* Brief ALS: “. . . In my speech also I
have tried to strike the note of serious
devotion to our country’s welfare.” 2
pages. Sagamore Hill, 12 January
1916 * TLS: “I am very glad to see
that speech of Gompers. In my next
speech I shall take up the joint control of our foreign affairs by himself andWilson. . . .” 1 page. New
York, 7 October, 1916 * ALS:“. . .What you said about me touched me deeply . . . . [Y]ou speak of
my as I should like to have my childrens children believe I was entitled to be spoken of.” 1 page.
Sagamore Hill, 8 November 1916 * ALS:“. . . [Y]ou are on the whole the most useful public servant
this country has had during the last four years. . . .”2 pages. Sagamore Hill, 29April 1918 * others.
Edith Kermit Roosevelt. ALS: “. . . After many difficulties & much ‘doubt hesitation and pain,’ on
the part of the government I have been given a passport and leave shortly for France to fulfill
Theodore’s wish and make certain arrangements about Quentin’s grave. Please don’t forget how very
muchTheodore cared for you & all that you meant to him & to the country.” 4 pages. [NewYork], 26
January [1919] * ALS:“. . .The stand you have taken on the Columbian Treaty is splendid. . . . In
any case I am not thinking of Theodore ‘malice domestic nor foreign levy’ can touch him further. It is
one country for which I suffer.” 2 pages. Sagamore Hill, 7 April 1921.
Archibald B. Roosevelt. TLS: “. .. [T]he editorial on Colonel Roosevelt’s personal aspirations and
ambitions and the poem on January 8th were both, in the estimate of his family, the most remarkable
summing-up on the life of my father.” 1 page. Oyster Bay, 23 January 1919.
WITH
—
Over 30 pages of letters (from secretaries, journalists, and others to VanValkenburg concerning
Roosevelt), and printed matter (enclosures,VanValkenburg’s retained copies of letters to Roosevelt, etc.)
including two tickets to Roosevelt’s funeral at Christ Church in Oyster Bay on January 8, 1919.
Edwin A.Van Valkenburg (1862-1932) was editor of the Philadelphia
North American
, an influ-
ential Republican and Progressive daily, between 1899 and 1924; in 1908, he managed Taft’s
presidential campaign in Pennsylvania.VanValkenburg and Roosevelt shared a mutual distrust of Taft
after he became president, which drew them to each other.