Early 1900s Political and Patriotic Memorabilia

Boldly Graphic And Colorful Teddy Roosevelt Textile, With His Portrait In A Large Heart And Rough Riders Above, Made To Celebrate His Receipt Of The Nobel Prize For Peace In 1906 In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt brokered a treaty between Japan and Russia to end the Russo-Japanese War, which centered on control of Korea and Manchuria. The reason ongoing struggle for of the territory was its great importance to China and Russia as a warm water port on the pacific coast. Japan had a fledgling navy, but it was steadily gaining power and, in 1903, to the great embarrassment of the proud and confident, Qing Dynasty, China was defeated by a superior Japanese force. The horrors resulting from this war led to Chinese revolution. War between Japan and China was followed by conflict with Russia over roughly the same lands. In 1904, Russia was amazed when Japan attacked before it was able to launch its own offensive operations. Russian naval and ground forces fared little better than the Chinese in this affair, and were overcome in the face of a growing Japanese empire. The Russian people, dissatisfied with Tsar Nicholas II, began their own revolution. In 1905, with American intervention, the war ended. Roosevelt mediated a treaty between the two countries, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on September 5th of that year. He received a Nobel Peace Prize for his actions in 1906. This rare and brilliant, kelly green textile glorifies Roosevelt’s role, as well as his history with the Rough Riders, depicted along the top register. They act as a crest for the heart-shaped medallion that holds a beautiful image of the president, as nice as any that exist across American political cloth. Around the heart are the famous words uttered by Henry Lee...

Utah statehood flag printed on cotton with 45 stars celebrating the admission of Utah as a state. Official flag for 12 years (1896 - 1908). 8-7-8-7-8-7 configuration. Printed on glaz...

Patriotic "E Pluribus Unum" Silk and Metallic Embroidered Souvenir of Eagle with 4 Flags, circa 1901 Presented is a patriotic silk floss and metallic thread embroidered souvenir, circa 1909. The banner has a blue silk field, with "E Pluribus Unum" embroidered in red thread on a gold bannerette above an American eagle with a U.S. Shield and a panoply of American flags. This embroidered banner was most likely made in Japan, to celebrate the visiting U.S. Navy men of the Great White Fleet...

Presented is a flag waver from 1908 with 46 stars. This small flag waver, commonly printed to wave in parades, celebrates Oklahoma statehood. Oklahoma was admitted into the Union in ...

THEODORE ROOSEVELT BANNER WITH AN EXQUISITE PORTRAIT IMAGE IN ROUGH RIDER'S GARB, COPYRIGHTED BY GEORGE ROCKWOOD (INVENTOR OF THE CDV), PRINTED IN BOSTON; ...

ELABORATE SAILOR’S SOUVENIR EMBROIDERY FROM THE ORIENT WITH A LARGE FEDERAL EAGLE, CROSSED FLAGS, CANNON AND ANCHOR, OBTAINED IN YOKOHAMA, JAPAN, DATED 1906: Between roughly 1885 and 1915, American sailors visiting the orient could obtain beautiful needlework embroideries on shore, with patriotic American themes. These extraordinary works of art were acquired as mementos of a long voyage, often with the hope that they might be presented as gifts for loved ones and friends. Using silk floss, elaborately embellished with both silver and gold metallic bullion thread, and combining various types of embroidery work and stitchery, artists working the piers in port towns would create these elaborate pictures, customizing them to the buyer's content. Executed on velvet, like this example, or sometimes on silk, the most common devices included eagles, flags, and shields, often with various maritime elements, frequently personalized with names or initials, locations, and dates. This particular example has all of the above. A spread-winged, war-like eagle is posed here upon clusters of arrows emerging from the apex of a federal shield, flanked on either side by trios of American national flags. Laurel leaves spring from the top of the shield, while a cannon barrel and an anchor extend from the base, with a stack of cannon balls to the left and a billowing streamer below. The familiar "E Pluribus Unum" motto appears on the streamer, separated by a single star. This is rather appropriate for the meaning of the phrase: "out of many, one." The initials of the sailor, "AP," appear in fanciful text at the top, in the valley between the eagle's wings. To the left and right of the flags are the date "April 24th 1906." and "Yokohama, Japan." It is of interest to note that the count of 45 stars on each flag in the foreground is correct for the period, as well as the count of 13 stars and 13 pales (vertical stripes) on the shield.* The attention to detail is relatively amazing, especially given the point of origin. It was not uncommon for American-made patriotic objects to lack such detail. Teddy Roosevelt was in the White House at the time that this textile was made. Utah became the 45th state in 1896. It had been attempting to gain statehood for many years, but remained a territory, primarily due to the fact that the Mormon Church and Utah authorities continued to be openly tolerant of polygamy. In 1890, Mormon Church President Wilford Woodruff published a manifesto that denounced the contract of “any marriages forbidden by the law of the land”. This gave way to Utah’s 1896 acceptance. The 45 star flag was generally used from that year until 1907, when Oklahoma joined the Union. Due to the Spanish-American War (1898) and Roosevelt’s famous world tour of the “White Fleet” (1907-1909), this was an extremely patriotic period. When examining the level of craftsmanship, note the glass eye employed in the eagle, the fan-like sprays of feathers on the white portion of the wings, and the tassels carefully knotted from metallic bullion thread. Also note the treatment of the raised feathers on the neck, the scales on the talons, and the spiraling chain...

BOLDLY GRAPHIC AND COLORFUL TEDDY ROOSEVELT TEXTILE, MADE TO CELEBRATE HIS RECEIPT OF THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR PEACE IN 1906: In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt brokered a treaty betw...