Theodore Roosevelt: on Clio's Active Service
John Milton Cooper
The most casual visitor to Sagamore Hill, Theodore Roosevelt's home at Oyster Bay, cannot fail to grasp two of the owner's greatest interests. The most immediately striking impression of the interior of the house comes from the plethora of animal trophies—mounted heads, antlers, tusks, stuffed birds and small game, and elephant's feet made into footstools. Even someone who knows nothing about Theodore Roosevelt can see that he was an enthusiastic outdoorsman and an avid hunter. The next most striking impression is made by the books. Sagamore Hill is a house full of books. The library is one of the largest rooms, and a casual glance at the volumes, which come in all sizes and shapes and many of which show signs of repeated use, reveals that these are not decorative sets or collectors' editions. Other bookcases filled with similar hodgepodges of well-worn volumes in several languages and on a galaxy of subjects abound in nearly every room of the house. Even an ignorant visitor can see that Roosevelt was a lover and a reader of books. Curiously, few mementos serve to recall that the owner of the house was also a state legislator and governor, military officer, federal appointee, and vice president and president of the United States.
