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Reserve Your Spot!
The 86th Annual Meeting
of
The Theodore Roosevelt Association
Washington, DC
October 21, 22, 23
Washington's Renaissance Mayflower has been chosen has the host hotel for this year's TRA annual meeting: October 21, 22, 23 (Friday through Sunday). The hotel dubs itself as "Washington's second best address." In fact, the Mayflower attracts nearly as many notables as the nearby White House - no doubt the town's first most desirable address. Since opening its doors in 1925, the hotel has hosted Calvin Coolidge's inaugural ball and Charles Lindbergh's celebration of his historic flight. Hotel legend has it that during a visit, actress Jean Harlow was so intrigued by the hotel's switchboard that she spent a morning as a stand-in operator.
Designed by Warren and Westmore, the New York architects who also worked on Manhattan's Grand Central Station, the original hotel boasted 1,057 rooms, including 112 apartments. Hotel workers reportedly spent three months working around the clock just to arrange some 25,000 pieces of furniture delivered from New York. Extensive renovations in the early 1980s restored the hotel to its original grandeur, earning it a place on the list of the National Register of Historic Places. Now you can stroll the same one-tenth-mile promenade that visitors enjoyed 73 years ago, under the watchful eyes of gilt rams on the frieze decorating the lobby. Then, hit the lounge for a drink served up by Sam the bartender, a local legend himself, who whips up martinis while dazzling guests with magic tricks.
Despite its location in the heart of Washington's business district, hotel rooms at the Mayflower are surprisingly quiet. Furnishings are lavish: poster beds and settees, damask wing chairs, and tiered curtains with matching bedspreads and dust ruffles. Walls are covered with faux-silk wallpaper and decorated with historic prints of local scenes. The bathroom, covered in Italian marble, is luxurious. Light-wood cabinets house an army of fluffy towels. A television and telephone help keep you entertained while you bathe. When you're finished, slip into the in-room seersucker robe.
Complimentary services include tea and coffee, shoe shines and newspaper delivery to guest rooms.
Hotel reservations may be made by calling
directly to the Mayflower, 1-800-HOTELS-1 (or) 202-347-3000. Be sure to mention
the Theodore Roosevelt Association in order to receive our group rate of $195
per night, exclusive of taxes and surcharges, for single or double occupancy.
(This is a VERY good price for a first-class hotel in midtown DC.) Reservations
must be made prior to September 29, 2005.
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Gable and Harbaugh to be Awarded Theodore Roosevelt ® Distinguished Service Medals at Annual Dinner
Longtime TRA Executive Director John Allen Gable, who died on February 18th, and eminent Theodore Roosevelt biographer William H. Harbaugh, who died on April 28th, will each be awarded the Theodore Roosevelt ® Distinguished Service Medal at this year's annual dinner on Saturday, October 22, in Washington, DC.
Pulitzer Prize-winning TR biographer Edmund Morris will present Dr. Gable's Distinguished Service Medal to representatives of the Gable family, while well-known author and scholar Douglas G. Brinkley - Director of Tulane's new Theodore Roosevelt Center for American Civilization - will present Dr. Harbaugh's Medal to representatives of the Harbaugh family.
Honorary chairs for the Annual Dinner are Senator Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota) and Representative Peter T. King (R-New York). The gala dinner will be held at our host hotel, the Renaissance Mayflower, 1127 Connecticut Ave. NW. The dinner will commence at 7:30 pm, this to be preceded by a cocktail reception starting at 6:00 pm. Three dinner options are available:
* Breast of Chicken Stuffed with Prosciutto, Fontina Cheese and Spinach, Madiera Sauce
* Pistachio Encrusted Salmon, Saffron Sauce
* Yukon Gold Gnocchi with Asparagus and Grilled Yellow, Green and Red Bell Pepper
TRA Partners with White House Historical Association for 86th Annual Meeting
The Theodore Roosevelt Association is proud to be partnering with the White House Historical Association - http://www.whitehousehistory.org/ - for this autumn's annual meeting of the TRA in Washington, DC. On the afternoon of Friday, October 21, TRA members will be treated to a presentation by three prominent White House historians who will focus on various aspects of the Executive Mansion during TR's presidency. William Seale - the world's leading authority on all aspects of White House history who is the author of the official two-volume history published by the WHHA - will give a presentation on the McKim, Mead & White restoration in 1902. Meanwhile, the WHHA's staff historian Bill Bushong will put the restoration in the context of the larger urban renaissance of the nation's capital at the time (the McMillan Plan, the realization of the L'Enfant plan with the mall, etc.). Lastly, Sally Stokes, who recently won a fellowship with the WHHA, will speak on the behind-the-scenes life of cooks, butlers and ushers during TR's presidency, emphasizing how the staff labored to make the house into both a home and a ceremonial stage. The WHHA presentation will take place at our headquarters hotel, the Mayflower.
Friday Night Cocktail Reception at Annual Meeting
TRA Members attending the annual gathering will have the option of keeping the evening free to themselves on Friday night, October 21st, or participating in a cocktail reception at Washington's prestigious Stephen Decatur House Museum, http://www.decaturhouse.org/. Located one block north of the White House on Lafayette, the Decatur House is one of the oldest surviving homes in Washington, DC, and one of only three remaining residential homes designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the "Father of American Architecture." The house was completed in 1818 for naval captain Stephen Decatur and his wife Susan, and subsequently became one of the capital's most desirable addresses: home to many of our nation's most prominent figures including Henry Clay, Martin Van Buren, and Edward Livingston. The Friday night cocktail reception will run from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM, and feature an open bar, hors d' oeuvres, and buffet.
Special Pine Knot Excursion on Sunday of Annual Meeting Weekend
For those who would like,
there will be a special bus trip followed by a small symposium and reception at
Pine Knot on Sunday of the annual meeting weekend. Busses will depart Washington
DC around 1 pm and return back to DC by approximately 8 pm. The trip will
include a boxed lunch aboard the busses going to Pine Knot, followed by a
reception at Pine Knot and talks concerning TR and conservation by Douglas
Brinkley (who will have just finished writing his new manuscript on the topic),
Tweed Roosevelt, and Edward J. Renehan Jr., Executive Director of the TRA and
author of books on both TR and John Burroughs, naturalist and guest of TR and
Edith at Pine Knot.
Plans for 2005 Annual Meeting taking shape in DC
By Tim Glass, Capital Area Chapter
The 86th Annual Meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association on the weekend of October 21-23, 2005 is shaping up to be a grand affair here in Washington. The local chapter in the greater DC area has been doing a great deal of legwork in support of the event, and it has afforded us a front-row seat as all of the details fall into place. On behalf of the chapter I’d like to say we can’t wait to greet everyone coming down this fall.
The staging area for the entire weekend will be Washington’s luxurious Mayflower Hotel directly in the heart of DC – a location convenient to several associated sites and other prominent local landmarks. The hotel itself holds a Rooseveltian claim as the residence of President-Elect Franklin and family, and is the site (Rooms 776 and 781 to be exact) of his authorship of his “Nothing to fear but fear itself” speech. From there, the White House and Lafayette Park are just blocks away. Grace Reformed Church, Theodore’s own parish during his presidency, is almost as near. The National Geographic Explorers Hall is around the corner, and Rock Creek Park – site of many a point-to-point walk is just a stone’s throw away. A more appropriate location is hard to imagine.
However, despite its beauty, its history, and convenient as it is, the hotel is not the beginning and ending of what we have planned.
The weekend will kick off on Friday with meetings and speakers during the day and an early evening reception at the Stephen Decatur house just off of Lafayette Square, across the street from the White House. Saturday’s activities currently include a visit to Theodore Roosevelt Island in the middle of the Potomac River, on which resides the TR Memorial amid a fittingly rustic and unspoiled natural preserve run by the National Parks Service. Local Boy Scouts, who have participated in island cleanups, will serve as an honorary color guard during a wreath-laying commemorating TR’s 147th birthday.
Attendees will find a morning Collecting Seminar on political memorabilia acquisition and collecting particularly helpful, considering the popular silent auction benefiting the national chapter that will precede the dinner itself. Saturday afternoon we’re currently planning for a bus tour of the district, in an attempt to tie together the many TR-related sites remaining throughout Washington.
The annual gala dinner of course will be held at the Mayflower Hotel, and will honor two extraordinary contributors and dear friends to the Theodore Roosevelt Association – our late executive director Dr. John A. Gable, and UVA historian and author of Power and Responsibility: The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Harbaugh, who also passed away this spring.
Sunday is shaping up to have another great lineup. We’ll begin with an informal tour of Grace Reformed Church, TR’s presidential parish and our chapter’s official address in Washington, DC. By virtue of being in town that weekend we will enjoy the happy coincidence of our annual gathering dovetailing with the annual birthday tribute paid to TR by the church during their service following the tour. The current pastor of the church, Rev. David Eugene Massey, will say some words in honor of the birthday and in recognition of TR’s association with the church.
For those who are able to extend their visit to the greater DC area just a little bit, we’ll have a bus trip down to Pine Knot, near Charlottesville. This restoration project, dear to both our annual dinner honorees, is progressing very nicely. Paula Beazley has put together a warm reception for us in Albermarle County with interpretive talks by Douglas Brinkley, Tweed Roosevelt, and Ed Renehan.
There is so much going on and so much to do in support of the dinner this year I think we’re all a little giddy in anticipation of October. This is not a weekend to be missed, and on behalf of the entire Capital Area Chapter of the TRA we can’t wait to see you down here!
Note: The first 300 Registrants for the TRA's 86th Annual Meeting Will Receive a Free Copy of Bill Harbaugh's The Theodore Roosevelts' Retreat in Southern Albemarle: Pine Knot 1905-1908. Originally published in 1993, this 50-page paperback offers the definitive word on Pine Knot from the man generally considered to be the premier Theodore Roosevelt scholar of his generation.