<div class="description">
<dl><dd>Letter handwritten in ink by T. Roosevelt from Albany, New York, on stationery with the engraved letterhead of the State of New York Assembly Chamber, to naturalist Elliott L. Coues in Washington, D.C</dd>
<dd>Coues has written a brief note in the space left blank by Roosevelt at the end of the letter on p. [4]: "Respectfully referred to Professor Baird, with references to the proposition marked with red pencil. Please return suggestive reply, if any. Elliott Coues." There are red pencil check marks and blue underlinings on the passage of the letter asking whether the Smithsonian might be interested in receiving Roosevelt's collection of bird skins. The marks were presumably added by Coues to bring this passage to the attention of Spencer F. Baird</dd>
<dd>Roosevelt asks Coues for assistance in obtaining information on American shrews to help identify the specimens Roosevelt had collected in Maine and elsewhere. Roosevelt also offers his collection of a few hundred bird skins to the Smithsonian, including some he obtained while in Egypt and Syria</dd>
<dd>Elliott Coues (1842-1899), a disciple of Spencer F. Baird, was probably the most influential American ornithologist of his generation. From about 1860 to 1881 Coues served in the United States Army as Assistant Surgeon and from 1877 to 1886 served as Professor of Anatomy at Columbian College (now The George Washington University). His major publications include Key to North American Birds, 1872; Check List of North American Birds, 1873, 1882; and Field Ornithology, 1874</dd>
<dd>SCNHRB copy (39088011250958) was purchased from the Cullman Endowment, the Birds Division Nada Kramer Fund, and the Mammals Division Curators Fund</dd>
<dd>SCNHRB copy is housed in a folder together with a copy of the Fall 1983 (v. 9, no. 4) issue of the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal, which includes an article by Paul Russell Cutright on "Theodore Roosevelt Disposes of His Boyhood Bird Specimens" (p. 2-8) discussing Roosevelt's correspondence with Spencer Baird and Elliott Coues concerning his donation of bird skins to the Smithsonian. The folder also contains an autographed letter, signed, on Theodore Roosevelt Association letterhead, from TRA Executive Director John A. Gable to Dr. Robert Ted Steinbock dated May 19, 1984; and an autographed letter, signed, on the letterhead of book dealer Raymond M. Sutton, Jr. (Williamsburg, Kentucky), from "Ray" to Leslie Overstreet, librarian of the Cullman Library of Natural History, dated Jan. 12, 2012, who sent along the TRA Journal issue to the Cullman together with the letter from Gable</dd></dl><br>Subjects: Shrews; Animals; Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919; Coues, Elliott, 1842-1899; Smithsonian Institution</div>
<div class="fn value">
<dl><dd>Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919</dd>
<dd>Coues, Elliott, 1842-1899</dd>
<dd>Baird, Spencer Fullerton, 1823-1887</dd>
<dd>Smithsonian Institution</dd>
<dd>New York (State). Legislature. Assembly</dd></dl></div>
Internet Archive identifier