Museum Collections
Luce Center
Kerchief
Object Number:
1949.259
Date:
1912
Medium:
Cotton
Dimensions:
overall: 19 1/2 x 18 1/2 in.
Marks:
printed: all over: "TR"
printed: along border: "Made and sold exclusively by, The National Kerchief Co. New York Chicago and San Francisco/ DESIGN PAT APPLIED FOR/ COPYRIGHT 1912 W.A. LOFTUS"
Description:
Cotton lithographed campaign kerchief of Theodore Roosevelt with the "Rough Rider" cowboy hat in the center surrounded by seven rows of his intials, "TR"; border of the "Rough Rider" portrait and red dots; printed in red and sepia on a white ground.
Gallery Label:
In her book "The American Bandanna," Hillary Weiss writes about this kerchief: "Utilizing Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Rider image from the Spanish-American War, the National Kerchief Co. printed bandannas for his Bull Moose Party candidacy in 1912. The New York Times reported from the convention: 'A woman stood up and waved a bandanna in the most frantic fashion. The woman was beaming... The woman was Mrs. Roosevelt.'
Bibliography:
Collins, Herbert Ridgeway. Threads of History: Americana Recorded on Cloth, 1775 to the Present. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1979.
Credit Line:
Purchase
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.





