YOUNG NATURALIST

Birth - 22

YOUNG

NATURALIST

“It is an incalculable added pleasure...to know, even slightly and imperfectly, how to read and enjoy the wonder-book of nature.”
–Theodore Roosevelt
AMNH PROJECT

iNaturalist

BORN

at 28 E. 20^th St, New York City

1858

OCTOBER 27
PATRICIA O’TOOLE

Roosevelt struggles with asthma throughout childhood; turns to fresh, outdoor air for relief

1862

JUNE
FAMILY EVENT

Rock ON!
OBTAINS SEAL SKULL

The specimen leads 8-year-old Theodore to begin the “Roosevelt Museum of Natural History”

A Rare New York City Find Roosevelt took an early interest in natural history. When he spied a harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) that had been killed at the harbor, he took careful measurements and acquired the skull for display in his museum.

“That seal filled me with every possible feeling of romance and adventure,” Roosevelt would write in his autobiography. He pursued that feeling by expanding his museum, collecting animal skeletons, tadpoles, minerals, bird nests and insects, housing the specimens in his boyhood bedroom.

Shortly after starting his museum, Roosevelt kept a natural history journal. He patiently detailed the habits and physical characteristics of insects and fish, occasionally including his own drawings of the animals.
1867
READS DARWIN’S ORIGIN

On the Origin of Species (1859) revolutionized scientific thinking and inspires Roosevelt to continue his natural history study

1869
AT AMNH

Roosevelt Memorial

Theodore Roosevelt Memorial
Hall (1^st floor)

The Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall. Installed in 1936 and renovated in 2012

This hall and the rotunda upstairs are New York State’s official monument to Theodore Roosevelt, the only New York City native to become president. Roosevelt’s fifth cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, laid the cornerstone in 1931. Franklin recalled that Theodore told him as a boy, “You can learn more about nature and life in the Museum than in all the books and schools in the world.”
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Cofounded by Theodore Roosevelt Sr. The AMNH charter is signed in the Roosevelt home

Founding AMNH Theodore’s father, Roosevelt Sr., was one of a group of men who founded AMNH. By 1871, the first exhibits were on display at the Central Park Arsenal, on the eastern edge of Central Park.

The Museum’s First Building
In 1874, President Ulysses S. Grant laid the cornerstone of the Museum’s first permanent building on 77^th St. Three and a half years later, the building opened to the public.

Pioneering Work
In 1913, Carl Akeley, a naturalist and major innovator in the art of nature dioramas, began planning the Hall of African Mammals. Today, the Museum’s habitat dioramas are widely considered the finest in the world.

Current Work at AMNH
Now one of the world’s largest natural history museums, AMNH houses more than 32 million specimens and artifacts. In 2012, the Museum reopened the Hall of North American Mammals (above) after extensive restoration.
1869

APRIL 6
YOUTH PROGRAM

Science Mentoring Research Program

LEARNS TAXIDERMY

To preserve the birds he collects, Roosevelt learns taxidermy from John Bell (above), a famous taxidermist and colleague of wildlife artist John James Audubon

1871
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY

Roosevelt’s first glasses changed his life: “I had no idea how beautiful the world was until I got those spectacles”

1871
AMNH LECTURE

Nature’s Compass
YELLOWSTONE CREATED

President Grant creates America’s first national park. Later, Roosevelt protects bison there

Creating the First National Park After an official exploratory team returned with photographs, paintings and tales of adventure in the region, President Ulysses S. Grant (above) set aside 2.2 million acres, creating the first national park.

Roosevelt in Yellowstone
President Grant’s legislation did not protect forest or wildlife in Yellowstone, so Roosevelt worked to protect bison populations within the park through efforts of the Boone and Crockett Club, which he cofounded in 1887.

The Greater Yellowstone Area
Yellowstone National Park (yellow) still protects 2.2 million acres of land. But the greater Yellowstone area (green) covers another 28 million acres—unprotected land that is actually crucial to the survival of the park’s inhabitants.

Food for elk (Cervus elaphus), pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) and other animals in Yellowstone National Park is abundant during the summer months. But in the winter, when the grasses that they eat are covered by snow, animals move to lower elevations—outside the park—to find food.

Habitat fragmentation—the breaking up of large areas of habitat by roads, housing and industry—threatens unprotected winter feeding grounds. Environmental organizations are working to protect those critical areas and their animal inhabitants by monitoring development and creating corridors of undeveloped land.

A wildlife corridor was initiated in 1993 in an effort to connect parks and open spaces from Wyoming to Canada’s Yukon. Spanning nearly 2,000 miles, the corridor stretches over mountains, through forests and across arctic tundra, providing animals a travel route with little human interference.
1872

MARCH
AT AMNH

Passenger Pigeons

The Hall of New York City Birds
(3^rd floor)

The passenger pigeon display located in the Hall of New York City Birds on the 3^rd floor

The passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius), once one of the most abundant birds in North America, fell victim to both hunting and habitat destruction. This species was extinct in the wild by 1900. Among the many specimens Theodore Roosevelt contributed to the Museum’s ornithology collection was a passenger pigeon he gave to Frank Chapman, the Museum’s first curator of birds, in July 1908.

TRAVELS TO EGYPT

Roosevelt (here on Nile River, seated on floor, second from right) keeps a detailed natural history journal. He writes that a grass warbler “is very active, and sings sweetly.”

1872

OCTOBER
ENTERS HARVARD

Roosevelt starts out studying natural history, but by graduation his interests shift toward politics

Roosevelt took his youthful passion for nature with him to Harvard. He became vice president of Harvard’s Natural History Society and studied botany, anatomy and geology. Many of his science classes were held in Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology (above).

Roosevelt (second row, second from left) was successful at Harvard. He was a member of the elite Porcellian Club (above), editor of the Harvard Advocate and had strong friendships. While he struggled with courses like Greek and Latin, he was a good student, graduating cum laude.

At Harvard, Roosevelt fell in love with Alice Hathaway Lee (left), and unabashedly courted her. Though she turned down his first marriage proposal, they were engaged by graduation. Meanwhile, his professional interests had shifted. “I intend to be one of the governing class,” he said.
1876

FALL
AMNH COURSE

Nature Writing Workshop

PUBLISHES SUMMER BIRDS OF THE ADIRONDACKS

The booklet gains him the attention of noted naturalist C. Hart Merriam and a listing in the 1877 Naturalists Directory

1877
YOUTH PROGRAM

Young Naturalist Awards

EDMUND MORRIS

Roosevelt, with sights set on becoming a politician, graduates from Harvard with honors

1880

JUNE
END OF FIRST CHAPTER

To continue, choose Firsthand Observer

1880

TRAVELS ABROAD TRAVELS ABROAD ATTENDS HARVARD

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE CREATED FIRST NATIONAL PARK ESTABLISHED

ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES PUBLISHED U.S CIVIL WAR TELEPHONE INVENTED

AMNH EVENTS