Postcard, Theodore Roosevelt, 1907

Representations of Theodore Roosevelt with and sometimes as a bear began after he refused to shoot a restrained bear on a 1902 hunting trip to Mississippi. This eventually led to his famous association with the “teddy bear.” However, the use of that term was promoted not just by a stuffed toy but also in a popular series of children’s books by Seymour Eaton. In 1905 Eaton wrote his first volume about Teddy-B and Teddy-G, the Roosevelt Bears. The characters’ appeal was enhanced by the connection to Roosevelt’s presidency and his campaign as a third-party candidate in 1912. The illustrations of the Roosevelt Bears were so well-liked they were issued as postcards marketed to adults. The image by R.K. Culver on this postcard first appeared in the second volume of Eaton’s series, More About Teddy B and Teddy G, the Roosevelt Bears, published in 1907