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. 

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.

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.

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.