What we know now as the biggest bear making company.
One of the most popular stuffed animals, the Teddy Bear is recently celebrating its 110th birthday! The question remains: why are they called “Teddy Bears” and not just, Toy Bears?
The story of the Teddy Bear begins in 1902 in the wooded lands of Mississippi. A group men, including the avid outdoorsman, President Theodore Roosevelt were bear-hunting. It is well know that President Roosevelt was indeed an excellent hunter, but for some strange reason he was not very lucky during this hunting trip. Not only had he not gotten a bear, but he had not even SEEN a bear during the trip.
In an effort to make the trip a successful trip one of his guides cornered a small black bear, wounded it, and tied it to a tree. The guide then called for Roosevelt to come and shoot the bear. Teddy immediately refused to kill the bear. (This is coming from a man who had eagerly shot grizzly bears in the Wild West). His reasons for not shooting the bear was for the main reason, he took no interest in taking unfair advantage of a terrified, trapped animal.
It was upon hearing the story of Roosevelt’s refusal of killing the black bear that cartoonist Clifford Berryman (of the Washington Post) drew the picture above. The picture shows Roosevelt in absolute disgust of the idea of shooting a helpless bear. It is known afterwards that the nation fell more in love with Roosevelt for the fact he even spared the poor creature. The poor bear would be later known as “Teddy’s Bear”.
It was in early 1903 that two Russian Jewish immigrants (Morris and Rose Michtom) began making and selling stuffed bears and dubbing them as “Teddy Bears” in their Brooklyn shop. It was not just Michtom’s who started selling the famous “Teddy Bears” but also around the same time the toy company FAO Schwarz of NYC were selling plush “teddy” bears that were made in German toy factor. Thus began the worldwide craze that would still be sweeping the world in the present time.
Original Michtom’s Teddy Bear displayed in the Smithsonian.
The Adamsist 