Theodore Roosevelt: Trappings of an Icon at NRA Museum

President Theodore Roosevelt Collection opening at NRA Museum.

Fairfax, Virginia – Late last year, the National Firearms Museum received a shipment from Sagamore Hill — the ancestral home of President Theodore Roosevelt. While Sagamore Hill undergoes renovation, the staff over at the National Parks Service was kind enough to lend a portion of the estate’s collection to the NRA Museum. That collection now is on display under the exhibit named Trappings of an Icon.

“Basically it tells you about the life of Theodore Roosevelt,” explains Senior Curator Phil Schreier. “Hunter, Statesman, Soldier. In the first case we have two firearms from his hunting career. First an 1886 Winchester rifle known as the tennis match gun because he used winnings from a tennis match to purchase the gun.”

The second firearm in the opening case is a suppressed Winchester model 1894 rifle. A favorite of the President’s when clearing the grounds of the local, pesky critters. Schreier explains:

“Archie Roosevelt wrote that his father liked to shoot varmints around Oyster Bay with this gun so he wouldn’t disturb the Tiffany and Du Pont families that lived near by.”

For more on the opening, and selection portions from the first case, tune in tonight’s episode of Curator’s Corner on NRANews and SiriusXM Satellite’s Patriot AND Patriot Plus.

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