Origins of the Teddy Bear

by Elizabeth Berlin Taylor

Overview

The term "teddy bear," used to describe a stuffed toy bear, originated in 1902 during Theodore Roosevelt's presidency. By examining the political cartoons of Clifford K. Berryman, students will learn that the teddy bear is a relatively new concept that derived from Theodore Roosevelt's fascination with the outdoors and Berryman's chronicling of one particular hunting adventure.

Background

Theodore Roosevelt was the nation's twenty-sixth president. He served from 1900 to 1909. Although he was born in New York City, Roosevelt developed a strong affinity for nature, the outdoors and exercising "strenuously." One of Roosevelt's enduring legacies is conservation and the protection of land. Throughout his life, Roosevelt was a hunting enthusiast. During a hunt in Mississippi in 1902, Roosevelt was unable to find a bear to shoot. Some of his companions finally found an old sickly bear and tied it to a tree for Roosevelt to kill. Roosevelt's refusal to kill that bear (though he had his aides subsequently put it down) was caricatured by Clifford K. Berryman in a political cartoon which then spawned the teddy bear named after Theodore Roosevelt.

Clifford Berryman was born in Kentucky in 1869. At age seventeen he moved to Washington, DC and drew patent illustrations. In 1891 he became an understudy to a cartoonist at The Washington Post and he became the chief cartoonist in 1896. Throughout his career, he drew cartoons of each president from Grover Cleveland to Harry Truman. Berryman portrayed Roosevelt refusing to shoot a corralled bear in Drawing the Line in Mississippi, in November 1902. Subsequently, Berryman drew teddy bears in many of his political cartoons that featured Roosevelt.

Materials

Cartoons, National Archives ("Two Bees or not Two Bees," "Figgering' on the Returns," "Campaign Brick," "So Near and Yet So Far.")
"Drawing the Line in Mississippi," National Archives
Political cartoon analysis sheet (PDF)
Quotation, PBS
Chart paper

Essential Question

What does the creation of the teddy bear convey about the character of Theodore Roosevelt?

Motivation

Ask students to respond to the question, "What are some major issues that are important to you?" The teacher will record student answers on the chart paper. Ask if anyone thought the environment was important and why or why not. Add that to the list on the chart paper.

Objectives

Students will be able to analyze political cartoons
Students will be able to identify the environment as an important concern to Theodore Roosevelt
Students will be able to explain the advent of the idea of the teddy bear

Procedure

After the motivation, inform students that we are going to be looking at one of Theodore Roosevelt's major concerns and in the process we will be solving a mystery: where does the idea of the teddy bear come from?
Put students in four small groups and give each group a Berryman cartoon to analyze as well as a political cartoon analysis sheet. Give groups ten minutes to analyze the cartoon (you may want to model a cartoon analysis for the entire class before breaking into groups).
Students will switch groups to form new small groups in which all the participants analyzed different Berryman cartoons (Jigsaw). Students must identify on the analysis sheet how the cartoons are the same and how they are different.

Class Discussion

What were the cartoons we looked at and what did they all have in common? Students will discover that each cartoon has a small teddy bear included in it.

The teacher will then project the image of "Drawing the Line in Mississippi." Students will be asked to describe what they see in a whole class discussion format. What do they think is happening in this cartoon? How does this make them feel about the character of Theodore Roosevelt? Why would Americans like the way this cartoon shows their president? What is a nickname for Theodore? Teachers should be sure to clarify that although Roosevelt would not kill an old, infirm, and captured bear, he was not opposed to hunting and considered it a favorite pastime.

Finally, the teacher will ask, "from where do we get the teddy bear?" Students should be able to answer that the teddy bear comes from this cartoon that shows Roosevelt refusing to shoot a bear that has been tied.

Closure

Students will read the quotation,

"To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed."

Ask students to put this quotation into their own words. What was an important issue for Theodore Roosevelt and why?