{"id":55869,"date":"2016-04-23T13:03:14","date_gmt":"2016-04-23T18:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=55869"},"modified":"2026-01-13T20:38:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T02:38:05","slug":"podcast-194-the-field-notes-of-theodore-roosevelt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/leisure\/history\/podcast-194-the-field-notes-of-theodore-roosevelt\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast #194: The Field Notes of Theodore Roosevelt"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"art19-web-player awp-medium awp-theme-dark-blue\" data-episode-id=\"724e4ba8-906e-44c8-98e3-b2f2b43e4098\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p>If you&#8217;ve been following the Art of Manliness for a while, you know we&#8217;re big fans of Theodore Roosevelt. His life is a truly inexhaustible&nbsp;repository of interest and inspiration. Well, there&#8217;s a new biography out about him that talks about one of the lesser-explored sides of that life: Roosevelt as a journaler and diarist.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/022629837X\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=022629837X&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=stucosuccess&amp;linkId=FSXA3GZUT5SFDAZ4\"><em>Theodore Roosevelt in the Field<\/em><\/a>, and on today&#8217;s show author Michael Canfield and I discuss what we can learn about Roosevelt&#8217;s approach to life and his work as a natural historian, conservationist, hunter, and soldier from TR&#8217;s own field notes. We discuss&nbsp;how this note-taking habit honed Roosevelt&#8217;s&nbsp;keen sense of observation, and of course, the lessons that men can take from his adventurous life.<\/p>\n<h3>Show Highlights<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>How we still have field notes from when Roosevelt was a nine-year-old boy<\/li>\n<li>The tradition of diary keeping in the 19th century<\/li>\n<li>Why Roosevelt kept field notes<\/li>\n<li>How Roosevelt developed an intense love of nature despite growing up in New York City<\/li>\n<li>How seriously Roosevelt took himself as a natural historian when he was just a boy<\/li>\n<li>How TR&#8217;s father is an example for all fathers on how to foster&nbsp;your children&#8217;s interests<\/li>\n<li>The museum and natural historical society that Roosevelt started as a boy<\/li>\n<li>The trend of starting organizations and clubs in the 19th century<\/li>\n<li>The actual contributions Roosevelt made to natural history as a young man<\/li>\n<li>Why Roosevelt decided he wasn&#8217;t going to be a scientist&nbsp;and instead became a politician<\/li>\n<li>How Roosevelt kept being a natural historian even as a politician<\/li>\n<li>How living in the badlands of Dakota transformed Roosevelt<\/li>\n<li>Theodore Roosevelt, the storyteller<\/li>\n<li>Why there isn&#8217;t a definitive bibliography of Roosevelt&#8217;s writing (hint: because he wrote a crap ton)<\/li>\n<li>The paradox of Roosevelt the hunter and Roosevelt the&nbsp;conservationist<\/li>\n<li>Roosevelt&#8217;s last expeditions<\/li>\n<li>How Roosevelt&#8217;s field notes changed as he aged<\/li>\n<li>What life lessons we can gleam from Roosevelt&#8217;s field notes (hint: you gotta experience life!)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Resources\/Studies\/People Mentioned in the Podcast<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/\/2016\/04\/roosevelt-diary-9.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-55918 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/\/2016\/04\/roosevelt-diary-9-538x280.jpg\" alt=\"Diary entry from when TR was 9.\" width=\"538\" height=\"280\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/\/2016\/04\/animal-shot-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-55921 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/\/2016\/04\/animal-shot-2.jpg\" alt=\"Roosevelt's African safari. Includes sketches of shots he took at animals.\" width=\"510\" height=\"892\" srcset=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/04\/animal-shot-2.jpg 510w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/04\/animal-shot-2-320x560.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 510px) 100vw, 510px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_55922\" style=\"width: 401px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/\/2016\/04\/bird-sketches.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-55922\" class=\"wp-image-55922\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/\/2016\/04\/bird-sketches.jpg\" alt=\"Different types of bird sketches.\" width=\"391\" height=\"495\" srcset=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/04\/bird-sketches.jpg 760w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/04\/bird-sketches-320x405.jpg 320w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/04\/bird-sketches-640x810.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 391px) 100vw, 391px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-55922\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bird sketches by TR.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/\/2016\/04\/tr.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-55930\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/\/2016\/04\/tr.jpg\" alt=\"Roosevelt's diary entry when his wife and mother died on the same day.\" width=\"331\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/04\/tr.jpg 525w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/04\/tr-320x483.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 331px) 100vw, 331px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/oasis.lib.harvard.edu\/\">Roosevelt&#8217;s field note archives at Harvard<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/thrb\/index.htm\">The&nbsp;brownstone house TR grew up in NYC<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Theodore_Roosevelt,_Sr.\">Theodore Roosevelt, Sr.<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sagamore_Hill_(house)\">Oyster Bay<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Last-Mohicans-Bantam-Classics\/dp\/0553213296\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1461349363&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=last+of+the+mohicans&amp;linkCode=sl1&amp;tag=artofmanliness03-20&amp;linkId=1fab2c79593110ff75784c1da7a494e5\"><em>The Last of the Mohicans<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnh.org\/\">American Museum of Natural History<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_Graham_Bell\">John Bell, the taxidermist that Roosevelt worked with as a boy<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/iiif.lib.harvard.edu\/manifests\/view\/drs:22339362$3i\">Roosevelt&#8217;s bird lists he published as a young man<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Alice_Hathaway_Lee_Roosevelt\">Alice Lee<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B006M9L3T0\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;btkr=1&amp;linkCode=sl1&amp;tag=artofmanliness03-20&amp;linkId=0b52609f08e3c437ab052e6a96b46417\">Roosevelt&#8217;s&nbsp;<em>Naval War of 1812<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/thro\/learn\/historyculture\/roosevelt-pursues-boat-thieves.htm\">Roosevelt capturing the boat thieves<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/African-Game-Trails-Wanderings-Hunter-Naturalist\/dp\/0312021518\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1461349613&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=african+game+trails&amp;linkCode=sl1&amp;tag=artofmanliness03-20&amp;linkId=1fb014a7b77d5458f65f999fc16abac3\"><em>African Game Trails<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_Muir\">John Muir<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/River-Doubt-Theodore-Roosevelts-Darkest\/dp\/0767913736\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1461349651&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=river+of+doubt&amp;linkCode=sl1&amp;tag=artofmanliness03-20&amp;linkId=6632a2f69ede5c99a2ceadeb0caf4b38\"><em>River of Doubt<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/todayinsci.com\/R\/Roosevelt_Theodore\/RooseveltTheodore-ExpeditionNotes500px.jpg\">Pic of Roosevelt writing in Africa<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/022629837X\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=022629837X&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=stucosuccess&amp;linkId=FSXA3GZUT5SFDAZ4\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-55870 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/\/2016\/04\/tr-field-e1461155226691.jpg\" alt=\"Theodore Roosevelt in the field book by Michael R. Canfield.\" width=\"338\" height=\"500\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>For an interesting look at a familiar figure from a new perspective, be sure to check out<em>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/022629837X\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=022629837X&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=stucosuccess&amp;linkId=FSXA3GZUT5SFDAZ4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Theodore Roosevelt in the Field<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/em>The book is filled with many more of TR&#8217;s field notes, and it&#8217;s wonderful to get to know the man&nbsp;better through looking at them and seeing&nbsp;his penmanship and observations.<\/p>\n<h3>Listen to the Podcast! (And don\u2019t forget to leave us a review!)<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-art-of-manliness\/id332516054?mt=2\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-49206 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2015\/07\/available-on-itunes.png\" alt=\"Available on itunes.\" width=\"250\" height=\"92\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-49207 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2015\/07\/available-on-stitcher.png\" alt=\"Available on stitcher.\" width=\"250\" height=\"92\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/artofmanliness\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-49208 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2015\/07\/soundcloud-logo.png\" alt=\"Soundcloud logo.\" width=\"250\" height=\"127\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pcasts.in:443\/NwCI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-49655\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/\/2015\/08\/pocketcasts.png\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" srcset=\"\" alt=\"Pocketcasts.\" width=\"225\" height=\"225\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/art19.com\/shows\/the-art-of-manliness\/episodes\/724e4ba8-906e-44c8-98e3-b2f2b43e4098\">Listen to the episode on a separate page.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/rss.art19.com\/episodes\/724e4ba8-906e-44c8-98e3-b2f2b43e4098.mp3\">Download this episode.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"hs-rss-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.omnycontent.com\/d\/playlist\/aaea4e69-af51-495e-afc9-a9760146922b\/6081eee7-c459-4e12-a1ab-aadc000fc4a7\/413a6904-4d72-4be8-9421-aadc000fc4ba\/podcast.rss\">Subscribe to the podcast in the media player of your choice.<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Podcast Sponsors<\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/huckberry.com\/?utm_source=artofmanliness&amp;utm_medium=affiliate\">Huckberry.<\/a>&nbsp;<\/strong>Discount prices on the world\u2019s coolest clothes and gear. Use promo code \u201cAOMFREESHIP\u201d at checkout to get free shipping on your order.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.themenlohouse.com\/club?redirect=true\">Five Four Club<\/a>.<\/strong> Take the hassle out of shopping for clothes and building a wardrobe. Use promo code \u201cmanliness\u201d at checkout to get 50% off your first box of exclusive clothing.<\/p>\n<h3>Read the Transcript<\/h3>\n<p>Coming soon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; If you&#8217;ve been following the Art of Manliness for a while, you know we&#8217;re big fans of Theodore Roosevelt. His life is a truly inexhaustible&nbsp;repository of interest and inspiration. Well, there&#8217;s a new biography out about him that talks about one of the lesser-explored sides of that life: Roosevelt as a journaler and diarist. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":55886,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42383,218,156],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-55869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-leisure","category-podcast"],"featured_image_urls":{"medium_large":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/04\/tr-field-1-768x397.jpg","large":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/04\/tr-field-1-538x280.jpg","reactor-320":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/04\/tr-field-1-320x165.jpg","reactor-640":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/04\/tr-field-1-640x331.jpg","rpwe-thumbnail":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/04\/tr-field-1-45x45.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55869"}],"version-history":[{"count":42,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192285,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55869\/revisions\/192285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55869"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=55869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}