Teddy Bears – adored since the early 1900’s
Boxed and wrapped in paper and bows, teddy bears have been a common and well-loved gift for generations, to the delight of tots and toddlers around the world.
Teddy bears are seen as a symbol of love and comfort and serve as a warm reminder of childhood memories.
While on a hunting trip in Mississippi in November 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear, and his refusal inspired a beloved toy that bear’s his name. Guides tied a bear up and put the president in charge of shooting it during the trip. Roosevelt, who was an avid hunter and outdoorsman, said that killing a defenceless animal in this way would be unsportsmanlike.
Clifford Berryman, a popular political cartoonist, depicted the incident in a well-known political cartoon. According to some sources, It was a reference to Roosevelt’s refusal to shoot and his handling of the Mississippi-Louisiana boundary dispute that inspired the song “Drawing the Line in Mississippi.”
New York City shopkeeper Morris Michtom was inspired by the cartoon and decided to honor America’s 26th president by making a stuffed fabric bear in his store window and putting a sign reading “Teddy’s bear” on it.
Around the same time, Margarete Steiff, a German seamstress who founded the Steiff company in 1880, started making plush bears. When Richard Steiff, the nephew of the company’s founder, came up with the idea of the mohair bear with jointed arms in 1902, he was inspired by real bears that he had drawn at the zoo.
Still adored today, teddy bears are a classic and most children has a teddy bear to call their own.
Give your FLATOUTbear their own story!