It was actually yesterday but I think this is an important day to celebrate so I'm writing about it today.
According to checkiday.com, teddy bears are named after President Theodore Roosevelt. Apparently, he went on a hunting trip with a friend in 1902. His friend caught a bear and called for President Roosevelt for help but he refused to shoot it, saying it would be unsportsmanlike to shoot a bear that was already injured though. They did have to eventually kill it to put it out of its misery. A newspaper heard the story and drew a cartoon of the President refusing to shoot the bear. Here's the cartoon from The Washington Post.
A store in New York saw the cartoon and made a toy bear called Teddy's Bear. The store became Ideal Toy Company. (They were later also known for the Betsy Wetsy doll and the Rubik's Cube.) Here's a picture of the bear from the Smithsonian.
Around the same time, a company in Germany was also starting to make toy bears. The Steiff firm's bears were shipped to the United States in 1903.
There are a lot of companies that make teddy bears now. Some of the ones I have are Ty Beanie Babies and Gund. But I don't care what company makes them. I love all of my teddy bears.
ความคิดเห็น