Teddy Bear

Lore & Background

The name teddy bear comes from Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, who was often referred to as 'Teddy' (a nickname he loathed). The name originated from an incident on a bear-hunting trip in Mississippi in November 1902. Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear that had been tied to a tree, deeming it unsportsmanlike, and the incident became the topic of a political cartoon by Clifford Berryman. Morris Michtom saw the drawing and created a small soft bear cub, placing it in his candy-shop window with a sign reading 'Teddy's bear'. The toys were an immediate success. Around the same time in Germany, the Steiff firm produced a stuffed bear from Richard Steiff's designs, exhibited at the Leipzig Toy Fair in March 1903. Neither creator would have known of the other's work due to poor transatlantic communication.

Did You Know?

• The largest teddy bear measures 19.41 m (63 ft 8 in) in length and was constructed in Mexico on 28 April 2019.
• In 1907, a Catholic priest in Michigan declared teddy bears to be 'horrible monstrosities' that could lead to race suicide.
• The Billy Possum was a plush toy created after William Howard Taft won the 1908 election, but it did not achieve lasting popularity.