If ‘Teddy Bear,’ why not ‘Billy Possum’?” That was the question posed by a political cartoon in the January 10, 1909, issue of the Atlanta Constitution. Inspired by a highly anticipated “possums and ...

President Theodore Roosevelt, often known as Teddy, went on a bear hunting trip near Onward, Mississippi, in November 1902 with a group of notables. Though others on the excursion bagged bears, as ...

People across the country were delighted by both the event and the cartoon, and this prompted several toy makers to begin manufacturing stuffed toy bears ... age of 96. Theodore Roosevelt was ...

A 1909 political cartoon about Billy Possum versus ... He had designed a stuffed toy bear in 1902, before the teddy bear became associated with Roosevelt. “But they kept at me to make the ...