Important Teddy Roosevelt Letter of January 1918

Presenting a very important Teddy Roosevelt letter of January 1918.

On ‘Sagamore Hill’ letterhead. Fully handwritten and personally signed by President Theodore Roosevelt.

Dated January 28th 1918.

With it’s original envelope, stamp and postage marks.

What makes this letter so important is the author, the office and the content.

It is addressed to Eliza Calvert Hall / Obenchain who was a well known author at the end of the 19th Century and Early 20th Century. In 1905, Teddy referred to her book “Aunt Jane of Kentucky’ in a speech and recommended that every man in America should read it to understand ‘the plight of their womenfolk’. He regularly corresponded with her and we have a number of those letters in our collection. It appears that both he and Edith became big fans of Mrs Hall/Obenchain who was also heavily involved in the Suffragist movement.

The letters also provide a fascinating and historic record of Roosevelt’s personal beliefs and feelings on female empowerment.

This letter reveals Teddy’s desire to meet the author in New York and refers to another important female author of the time, Alice French (Octave Thanet).

The letter is a folded double folio with writing on the outside and inside fold.

The Letter Reads:
Sagamore Hill

Jan 28th, 1918

“My dear “Eliza Calvert Hall”

(I can’t write you – or Octave Thanet – except as I naturally think of you !), if I had known you were in Washington I would have made all other engagements bend so that I could have seen you. I don’t know where you live in Texas; are you never coming to New York , so that we may have you out here ?

Always yours,

Theodore Roosevelt“

The envelope is addressed to: Mrs. Lida Calvert Obenchain, The Woodley, Washington, D.C.

It is stamped on the front as posted from Oyster Bay, New York Post Office on January 28th 1918.

It has a purple 3 Cent ‘George Washington’ Postal Stamp.

It has a return address noted on the front: “Please forward, or return to Theodore Roosevelt, Oyster Bay, N.Y.”