The Theodore Roosevelt collection consists mainly of letters by Roosevelt to a variety of correspondents and which span Roosevelt's career, briefly documenting his activities as governor of New York, Civil Service Commissioner, Commissioner of the New York City Police, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Navy, Vice President, President, and, in his political retirement, editor in turn at The Outlook and Metropolitan magazines and the Kansas City Star newspaper. Subject matter includes the handling of internal American political affairs, including dealings with Civil War veterans and a governors' conference on U.S. natural resources; letters to editors concerning books and articles Roosevelt was publishing or being asked to write; and religious matters, including a substantial letter on the U.S. government's position vis-à-vis Catholic affairs in the Philippines. The collection also contains photographs, a copy of a speech delivered at the Ithaca Hotel in 1910 Photographs show Roosevelt and a companion on an excursion in rocky country; and a set of proofs for color postcards documents scenes from Roosevelt's trip to Africa (1910). With the proofs are a contract for printing the images as postcards, an advertisement for the postcard set, and a cover letter from the printer for the proofs. The printed item is an inspirational message Roosevelt wrote for U.S. troops in 1917; one of the documents is a Thanksgiving Day proclamation issued by Roosevelt in 1899 as Governor of New York. Also included in the collection is correspondence between W.J. Crawford and Robert William Glenroie Vail concerning the building of the collection and 3 issues of the Panama Morning Journal describing final stages in the building and opening of the Panama Canal (September 27 and October 11, 1913; August 16, 1914) and the Star & Herald (August 15, 1939, 5 separate issues).