• 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

  • BORN

    at 28 E. 20th 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 

  • 1867

  • Spine of an embossed copy of Darwin's The Origin of Species.

    READS DARWIN’S ORIGIN

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

    1869

  • 1869

    APRIL 6

  • Taxidermist John Bell, photographed from the chest up.

    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

  • 1872

    MARCH

  • Theodore Roosevelt as a child, seated on the floor in the middle, surrounded by eight people.

    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

  • 1876

    FALL

  • Title page of The Summer Birds of the Adirondacks in Franklin County, N.Y. by Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.

    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

  • 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
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