Do You Love Teddy Bears?

The history and origins of a Teddy Bear is not new for most Americans. As for me, it is entirely new. For one, I don't have a bunch of teddy bears in my room. In fact, I only have one. So it is no wonder why I haven't thought about this before.

What's in a Teddy Bear that make young girls love them? Well, their simple appearance is the best answer. They are cute and cuddly and that's all.

How did people come about with the idea of a Teddy Bear? Here it is. In 1834, Robert Southey wrote Goldilocks and the Three Bears. In 1894, a German toy company published a catalogue with a stuffed bear toy picture in it. That company is called Gebruder Sussenguth. Margarete Steiff featured skittles and roly poly toy bears in the catalogue three years later. After two years, she applied for patents of her stuffed toy designs which include a dancing teddy bear and a brown bear with a handler.

The climax of the story happened in 1902. President Theodore Roosevelt went on a hunting expedition in MIssissippi. It was a failure expedition. The hosts who are very eager to please the president, caught a bear cub for the president to shoot. The president did not do it and it became a national news. Clifford Berryman of the Washington Post Newspaper drew a cartoon depicting the incident. It was entitled Drawing the Line in Mississippi.

In 1903, Morris Michton, a Russian saw the cartoon. He and his wife Rose made bear stuffed toy. He wrote to the president and asked his permission to name it Teddy, after his name Theodore Roosevelt. So in their novelty store in Brooklyn, New York, they displayed the bear, alongside the cartoon and with the name "Teddy's bear." Wholesaler Butlers Brothers was fascinated by these teddy bears and they financed the operation of the new company The Ideal Novelty Toy Company. It was also during this time when the German manufacturer Steiff introduced a toy resembling a bear in the Leipzig Toy Fair. The big New York toy company George Borgford and Co. ordered 3,000 Steiff bears.

This proves to be a good thing for President Roosevelt since he will be forever remembered not only because of his presidential term but also because of Teddy bears. By the way, in 1904, he replaced his mascot during the election campaign, from a moose to a bear.