Teddy Bears

The name Teddy Bear comes from one of President Theodore Roosevelt's hunting trips to Mississippi. There were several other hunters competing, and most of them had already shot something. A few friends of Roosevelt who were hunting with hounds treed an American Black Bear after a long and exhausting chase and suggested Roosevelt shoot it. He refused to shoot it himself, deeming this un-sportsmanlike, but instructed that the treed bear be killed to put it out of its misery, and it became the topic of a political cartoon. A Brooklyn store owner, Morris Michtom, saw the drawing of Roosevelt and the bear cub and was inspired to create a new toy. He created a little stuffed bear cub and put it in his shop window with a sign that read "Teddy's bear." The toys were an immediate success and Michtom founded the Ideal Novelty and Toy Co., which still exists today.

Teddy bear collectors are known as arctophiles from the Greek words 'arcto' (bear) and 'philos' (lover).

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