History Of The Teddy Bear (Originally written 2002)

I was watching the Today Show on NBC one morning when they had a segment on the history of the teddy bear. I didn't realize that one of my favorite collectibles was getting ready to have his 100th birthday! After watching the segment of how the teddy bear came to be I went and did a little more research and taaaa daa....the history of the teddy bear!

In Mississippi in 1902, President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was invited to go bear hunting. While hunting he spotted a small bear cub but couldn't bring himself to take the life of the bear which had been orphaned during the hunt. Such a warm hearted gesture hit the news stands immediately. The event was illustrated by a political cartoonist named Clifford Berryman of the Washington Post. The comic's caption was "Drawing the Line in Mississippi", below is a copy of the original comic stripe.

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On November 18th the cartoon was read by Morris Michtom and his wife Rose. They were the owner's of Michtom candy store in Brooklyn, New York. They owned a toy and novelty store in Brooklyn, New York. After seeing the cartoon Mrs. Michtom made a toy bear and displayed it in the shop window. The bear was a huge success and three more were made right away. Two of them sold that same day.

Mr. Michtom sent the other bear along with a request to President Roosevelt requesting his permission to name the bear "Teddy" since his cartoon was what inspired the creation of the bear. Roosevelt said ok and the "teddy bear" was officially born. In 1903 the first teddy bears were produced and marketed by Ideal Novelty Toy Company and today 100 years later we are still buying these cuddly, little stuffed treasures for the young and old.