The Jacob A. Riis- Theodore Roosevelt Digital Archive is an online archive dedicated to two men who played pivotal roles in promoting Progressive Reform in America. Riis is best known for writing How the Other Half Lives and for establishing the Jacob A. Riis Settlement House in New York. Aside from being a US president and a prominent conservationist, Roosevelt was at one point the founding member of the Progressive Party, which was nicknamed the Bull Moose Party. Riis and Roosevelt were actually good friends who shared mutual interest in delivering much needed social change to America.
A good example of their friendship was the fact that Riis wrote a biography of Roosevelt in 1904, titled Theodore Roosevelt, The Citizen. In his book, Riis states that as New York City Police Commissioner, Roosevelt promoted Progressive Reform by encouraging his police officers to not be afraid of dealing with crimes of political corruption committed by Tammany Hall. Tammany Hall was a political organization that began as a New York fraternal society in 1789 but later became infamous for political corruption by the early 20th century. Naturally, according to Riis, this kind of encouragement was not well-received by the people of New York City, especially those who were directly affected by such crimes as extortion and racketeering and who lacked the ability to defend themselves from their oppressors. However, as time progressed, opinions on Roosevelt’s policing methods somewhat changed. The main goal of the Jacob A. Riis- Theodore Roosevelt Digital Archive is to provide its visitors with visual evidence of Riis and Roosevelt’s ties and contributions to the Progressive cause. By doing this, the archive will manage to convey how social reform in general has always resulted from social reformers and compassionate politicians working for the greater good.
The contents of the archive are based on the argument that Riis and Roosevelt's own life experiences served as the driving force behind their careers in Progressive Reform later in life. The archive consists of digitized archival materials borrowed from the digital collections of the New York Public Library, the Columbia University Libraries, the Duke University Libraries, and the Harvard University Libraries. The archival materials related to Riis are digitized images of Riis’ lecture notes, other documents, and self-portraits, as well as candid photographs taken by Riis himself of New Yorkers who benefitted from the services of the Jacob A. Riis Settlement House. These images in particular are from the Columbia University Libraries' Community Service Society Photograph Collection.
The materials associated with Roosevelt are political cartoons of himself in regards to his affiliation to the Progressive Party, in addition to photographs taken of him during the Progressive Era. In addition, a digitized image of Roosevelt's 1912 Presidential Campaign Flyer from the Duke University Libraries' Digital Collections and three digitized images of Roosevelt from the Harvard University Libraries' Theodore Roosevelt Collection can be found on the archive.
By including these archival materials from four different academic institutions, the Jacob A. Riis-Theodore Roosevelt Digital Archive will specifically focus on the works of two Progressives rather than on a cluster of reformers. This is of significance because many already-existing digital archives and digital collections related to the Progressive Era contain materials associated with Progressives in general. The Riis-Roosevelt Archive will consist of three exhibits and five collections. The first exhibit, titled The Inspirations Behind Jacob Riis' Writings, puts Riis’ lecture notes, other documents, and photographs on display, with the intent of chronicling his growth as an American and as a Progressive Reformer. This particular exhibit will also analyze Riis's personal views on the people he sought to assist in New York City as well as his views on the city's rich history.
The exhibit is divided into two sections: Jacob A. Riis Lecture Notes/Other Documents and Jacob Riis' Candid Photographs of Progressive Era New York. The former section contains his written arguments in favor of providing social rights for young children and his views on the importance of being an American. The latter section consists of photographs that Riis candidly took of the people who benefitted from the services of the Jacob A. Riis Settlement House. These photographs were later used by Riis as evidence for his books on the social ills that plagued 19th century America.
The other two exhibits for Roosevelt will each show the political cartoons and photographs. The first of the two- Theodore Roosevelt: The Progressive Politician- analyzes Roosevelt's early political career as well as his occupations as Civil Service Commissioner and New York City Police Commissioner. It should be noted that during this time, TR began to promote Progressive Reform for New York City, much to the dislike of corrupt Tammany Hall politicians, fellow police officers, and immigrants. The only section in this exhibit is titled Theodore Roosevelt and the Origins of the Bull Moose Party.
The second exhibit involving Roosevelt is titled Theodore Roosevelt and the Presidential Campaign of 1912. This exhibit fully explains the significant events during the campaign that drove TR to found the Progressive Party. All of this exhibit's images and information can be found under the titled Theodore Roosevelt: The Progressive. There are a total of five collections that can be found at the Riis-Roosevelt Archive. Three of these collections focus on Riis while only two will display archival materials associated with Roosevelt.
By bringing Riis and Roosevelt together, visitors to the archive can see that the Progressive Era was defined by compassionate people coming together to bring social justice to America's impoverished and homeless masses, regardless of whether or not they had political power. It is important that Riis and Roosvelt are considered together because even though they had contrasting careers, they still relied on and respected each other's strengths in order to bring Progressive Reform to late 19th century America.