Announcement of Theodore Roosevelt films in American Memory

[Danna Bell-Russel]

The Library of Congress announces the availability of a new web
presentation Theodore Roosevelt: His Life and Times on Film, available
at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/trfhtml/, produced by the National
Digital Library and the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound
Division. The site features 104 films from the Library's holdings which
record events in Roosevelt's life
from the Spanish-American War in 1898 to his death in 1919.  The
majority of films (87) are from the Theodore Roosevelt Association
Collection, donated to the Library in 1962, while the remainder are from
the Paper Print Collection, dating from a hundred years ago.  Besides
containing scenes of Roosevelt, these films include views of world
figures, politicians, monarchs, and friends and family members of
Roosevelt who influenced his life and the era in which he lived.
Commemorative
events up to 1921 are also included as well as silent documentaries
compiled from earlier footage by the Theodore Roosevelt Association
between 1919 and 1928.  Four sound recordings made by Roosevelt for the
Edison Company in 1912 in which he states his progressive political
views are also available on the site.

Theodore Roosevelt was the first U.S. president to have his career and
life chronicled on a large scale by motion picture companies (even
though his predecessor, William McKinley, was the first to be filmed).
The presentation begins with scenes of Roosevelt and his Rough Riders
during the Spanish-American War.  Later films chronicle the
assassination of President McKinley and Roosevelt's sudden presidency as
a result.  Motion pictures taken during his presidency show his
inauguration, his meetings with dignitaries, and his trip to Panama to
begin construction of a canal, the first time a president in office had
ever traveled abroad.  His trips to Africa for safari and to Europe
shortly after his presidency were filmed extensively and include scenes
of reigning European monarchs of the period, some of which were taken at
the funeral of King Edward VII.  Films of his later life include scenes
of his home, family, his failed Progressive campaign for the presidency,
his efforts to prepare the U.S. for World War I, and an expedition he
undertook
in 1914 on the previously unexplored River of Doubt in Brazil, a trip
which nearly claimed his life.

The motion pictures are available to view in three formats, MPEG,
Quicktime, and RealMedia, and the sound recordings are available in wav
and RealAudio formats.  A special presentation featuring a film
chronology, a timeline of Roosevelt's life, and an essay on Roosevelt on
film is also included on the web site.

Additional web presentations featuring early films are available at the
Library of Congress web site at  http://www.loc.gov.  (Click on
"American Memory.")  Topics include Thomas Edison, the Westinghouse
Works in 1904, the American Variety Stage, President McKinley, and the
Spanish-American War.

Please send any questions about this collection to NDLPCOLL at loc.gov.