History of the Teddy Bear - Part I

It is hard to imagine what life would be like without teddy bears. But, it was not always that way. Part 1 of this three-part history of this teddy bear series will guide you through the early years starting in the early 1900s. What is interesting to note, about the history of the teddy bear, is the fact that its origin occurred in the same year in two different parts of the world. One in the United States of America during Theodore Roosevelt's presidency and the other in Germany. Here is the teddy bear's story.

In the early 1900s, 1902 to be exact, a cartoonist by the name of Clifford Berryman drew a cartoon called "Drawing the Line in the Mississippi". It showed the then president, Theodore Roosevelt, refusing to shoot a baby bear that his men had captured and tied to a tree. According to history, Roosevelt had traveled to Mississippi to help settle a border dispute. To help please the president, his hosts took him bear hunting; but because the hunting was so poor, his men captured a small bear and tied the bear to a tree for the president to shoot. Roosevelt refused. This story was later captured in cartoon form by Berryman.

Following its initial publication in the Washington Post, November 16, 1902, the cartoon created an immediate sensation, and it was subsequently reprinted in other papers. Including a newspaper in New York. There, this cartoon inspired Morris and Rose Michtom to create a bear in honor of the president's actions. Rose Michtom made a bear, named it "Teddy's Bear" and put it in their store window where it was immediately sold. More bears were created and quickly sold. It did not take long before the Michtoms could not keep up with the demand. It was then that they founded the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company, the first teddy bear manufacturer in the United States. During the course of their discovery, the Michtom's wrote to the president and asked for permission to use the name "Teddy" in his honor. The president agreed.

Simultaneously in Germany, Margarete Steiff's nephew was working in her stuffed toy business [Steiff] and had drawn sketches of bear cubs that were in the Stuttgart Zoo. These designs were used to created a prototype of a toy bear. A number of months later, Steiff introduced its first bear at the Leipzig Toy Fair. Although European buyers showed minimal interest, there was growing interest in "Teddy's Bear" in America due to the publicity surrounding the president and the bear cub. An America buyer ordered 3000 bears to be shipped to America.

By 1906, the United States was in the midst of a teddy bear craze. This would be comparable to the Cabbage Patch doll craze in the 1980s and the most recent Beanie Baby craze of the 1990s. An American composer J.K. Bratton created the score for the Teddy Bear's Picnic with the lyrics being provided by Jimmy Bratton. Teddy bear adventure story books were being written and the teddy bear manufacturers were creating teddy bears that came in all shapes and sizes. The apostrophe 's' was dropped from "Teddy's Bear" and the word "teddy bear" became the accepted term for this soft plush toy. Steiff, also, adopted the world "teddy bear" for their bear products.

Other competitors sprang up to get into the forray of manufacturing teddy bears; but many did not last the test of time. Except one, Gund Manufacturing Corporation, which started making bears in 1906 and is still creating them today.

In 1926 over in England, A.A. Milne, Christopher Robin Milne's father, starting writing stories about his son's adventures with his teddy bear and other stuffed animals. Father and son made many trips to the London Zoo and there fell in love with "Winnie" an orphaned bear. And the Winnie the Pooh series was born.

History of the Teddy Bear - Part II will discuss more great years between 1920-1940

A veteran teacher of 15 years, Liz Vanderwater collects teddy bears and has incorporated traveling teddy bears into her classroom. Student teddy bears have traveled around the world and visited all 7 continents.

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