Few toys have had as long life span in their original form as the teddy bears. In early 1900, teddy bears where one of the most popular toys for children in Europe and in the US. The origin of the Teddy Bear is claimed by many and the versions are different.

The most popular one is the one in connection with President Theodore Roosevelt, while bear hunting in Mississippi in January 1903. As reported in the Washington Post, the presidential hunting party, trailed and caught a lean, black bear, then tied it to a tree. The president was summoned, but when he arrived on the scene he refused to shoot the tied and exhausted bear, considering it to be unsportsmanlike. Roosevelt decided to spare the life of the bear cub, which had been orphaned during the hunt. The event was the subject of a cartoon by Clifford Berryman of the Washington Post whose cartoon was captioned "Drawing the Line in Mississippi", a copy of which is included for your viewing. A short time after the cartoon was published, Russian immigrants, Morris and Rose Michtom saw the cartoon. They owned a toy and novelty store in Brooklyn, New York and, inspired by the cartoon, Mrs. Michtom made a toy bear and displayed it in the shop window. The bear proved enormously popular with the public. As the story goes, Mr. Michtom wrote to Roosevelt requesting permission to name the bear "Teddy" after he President. Thus was born one of the largest toy companies of the United States: The Ideal Novelty Toy Company, which changed its name in 1938 to become The Ideal Toy Company.

The second, less recognized version, of the origin of the Teddy Bear concerns a German soft toy manufacturer, Margarete Steiff, who at a young age was stricken with Polio. One day Margarete Steiff made a tiny elephant which she would let her little visitors play with. Since toys were very rare back then and the children loved playing with them, Margarete's mother began giving her orders for copies of the elephant as well as other toy animals. As time went by she started to train other women to help her and eventually set up a small factory.

By 1887 Margarete's toys were being sent all over the world. Her one nephew, Richard, spent many hours watching the bears at the zoo, when in 1902 had created a toy bear with a moving head and limbs to present to his aunt. When presented to Margarete, she was not at all impressed, this toy was much bigger and it was made out of expensive and rare mohair opposed to the felt that was currently being used. However, Steiff started to make toy bears from her nephew's many sketches of bears. In 1903 these bears were displayed at the Leipzig Trade Fair which resulted in an American buyer placing an order for 3,100 bears. By the end of that year, the order had increased to 13,000 bears and in 1907, the Steiff Company sold over 1,000,000 toys.

A third version goes back to the States, where Theodore Roosevelt's daughter was in the midst of her wedding plans. The caterer was searching everywhere to find a unique and appropriate table decoration. In his journeys he went to New York and one of the first things he had seen was this little bear looking at him through the shop's window. Knowing how the President was a big game hunter he bought a handful of them to decorate the tables with. He had decorated them in various costumes such as fishermen and hunters. This had delighted everyone at the wedding including the President. At the end of the reception a close friend of the family asked, "Say "Teddy" what species do these bears belong?" Not knowing Roosevelt replied, "you really got me there so I think they must be a new species called Teddy Bears".

A fourth version is that the British claim the Teddy Bear on the basis of the nickname of King Edward VII, which was "Teddy".

Although there is some debate about who originated the teddy bear, both The Ideal Novelty, Toy Company and Steiff were pioneers, but eventually the Steiff Teddy Bears became the bear of choice.

Please contact us if you have a different version of the origin of The Teddy Bear and we will post your story on our web-site.