Hagedorn, Hermann, 1882-1964

Hermann Hagedorn was born in New York City in 1882 and educated at Harvard University, the University of Berlin, and Columbia University. From 1909 to 1911 he was an instructor in English at Harvard. Hagedorn was a friend and biographer of Theodore Roosevelt and served as Secretary and Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association from 1919 to 1957. Hagedorn died in Santa Barbara, California in 1964.

From the guide to the Hermann Hagedorn papers, 1898-1970, (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)

Hagedorn was an American author, poet and biographer. In addition to his biography on Robinson, he wrote on the life of Theodore Roosevelt, who was a personal friend.

From the description of [Letter] 1942 Oct. 30, 26 East 20th Street, New York [to] Ellin [sic] Jane Lyon / Hermann Hagedorn. (Smith College). WorldCat record id: 231685625

Hermann Hagedorn was a German-American author. He defied his immigrant father to pursue his dream of being a writer, and published poems, plays, and novels. After meeting former President Theodore Roosevelt, Hagedorn shifted his focus to biography, and produced several biographies of Roosevelt as well as other contemporary figures.

From the description of Hermann Hagedorn letter to Lester Roberts, 1945 June 25. (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 53808294

Poet and biographer.

From the description of Hermann Hagedorn papers, 1912-1933. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 84953115

Hermann Hagedorn (1882-1964), poet and biographer.

From the description of Hermann Hagedorn papers, 1898-1970. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702203616

Biographical Note

• 1882, July 18: Born, New York, N. Y.
• 1907: A.B., Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
• 1908: Married Dorothy Oakley
• 1910 - 1911 : Instructor in English, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
• 1916: Founding member of the Vigilantes, a World War I writers’ group
• 1918: Appointed racial adviser on Americans of German origin by the commissioner of education, Interior Department
• 1919 - 1957 : Trustee, director, and secretary of the Theodore Roosevelt Association
• 1931: Published Leonard Wood, a Biography. New York: Harper & Brothers (2 vols.)
• 1935: Published The Magnate, William Boyce Thompson and His Time. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock
• 1936: Gave principal address at dedication of memorial to Edwin Arlington Robinson
• 1955 - 1957 : Director, Theodore Roosevelt Centennial Commission
• 1964, July 27: Died, Santa Barbara, Calif.

From the guide to the Hermann Hagedorn Papers, 1912-1933, (Manuscript Division Library of Congress)

Hermann Hagedorn, biographer of Theodore Roosevelt, poet, and novelist, was born in New York on 18 July 1882, the son of Hermann and Anna (Schwedler) Hagedorn. He prepared at the Hill School and took his bachelor's degree in 1907 at Harvard College. He married Dorothy Oakley in 1908. After traveling in Europe and studying at the University of Berlin and Columbia, he returned to Harvard in the spring of 1909 as an instructor in English and an assistant in comparative literature to Barrett Wendell. He taught there for two years. Novels, plays, and volumes of verse followed. He wrote lyrics for the Peterborough pageant and was affiliated with the artists' colony in Peterborough, N.H., as a director of the Edward MacDowell Association. With Porter Emerson Browne, Julian Street, and Charles Hanson Towne he founded the Vigilantes, an organization of American writers founded in 1916 to support American citizenship and preparedness for the war.

During the pre-convention campaign of 1916 he met Theodore Roosevelt, whose personality captivated him; the resulting friendship shaped the course of his career. The former president cooperated with him in the writing of The Boys' Life of Theodore Roosevelt, published in 1918. After Roosevelt's death the following year, Hermann Hagedorn became assistant secretary and later executive secretary of the Roosevelt Memorial Association, an affiliation he maintained for the rest of his life. From the association's offices in the Roosevelt birthplace site in New York City, he researched other books on the former president: Roosevelt in the Badlands, Roosevelt, Prophet of Unity, The Bugle that Woke America, and The Roosevelt Family of Sagamore Hill . He also edited several selections of the president's writings, including the twenty-volume Works of Theodore Roosevelt . Leonard Wood, the military surgeon who was a Roosevelt confidant, and Edwin Arlington Robinson, the poet whose popularity Roosevelt encouraged, were subjects of his biographies. He was the director of the Theodore Roosevelt Centennial Commission from 1955 to 1959.

Other subjects of his biographical pen were William Boyce Thompson, the mining operator, Robert S. Brookings, merchant, philanthropist, and founder of the Brookings Institution, and Albert Schweitzer. A collection of biographical sketches, Americans: A Book of Lives, was published in 1946. His books for children, widely used in schools, include Book of Courage and We, the People . Two later works in verse are Combat at Midnight (1940) and The Bomb that Fell on America (1946); letters regarding the publication and public reception of the latter title make up a part of the correspondence in these papers. In The Hyphenated Family; An American Saga, he tells the story of his German-American family. During much of his adult life he lived in Santa Barbara, Calif., where he died on 27 July 1964.

From the guide to the Hermann Hagedorn Papers, 1904-1962, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)