RMA flag service on the steps of New York Public Library, 1919 /

On October 27, 1919 the Roosevelt memorial flag, which has been carried across New York State in TR's honor, is brought to rest at his grave in Youngs Memorial Cemetery, Oyster Bay, N.Y. Views of Samuel Abbott, originator of the memorial flag idea, placing the flag on TR's grave. Sequence of two young girls and a boy placing flower bouquet and flag through fence surrounding TR's grave, event may not be part of flag ceremonies. Final scenes of flag ceremony sponsored by Roosevelt Memorial Association on the steps of New York Public Library, Oct. 25; long shots of notables standing on platform, possible identifications from right to left are: Henry Cabot Lodge, honorary vice-president of RMA; the man next to Lodge is probably Henry J. Allen, Governor of Kansas; William Boyce Thompson, president of RMA, is holding the flag with the help of a man who appears to be Henry D. Lindsley, chairman of the event; William Loeb Jr., vice-president of RMA, is visible in back of Thompson; next to Loeb is probably William Gibbs McAdoo; and the man to the far left with hands to his side may be Elihu Root, an RMA trustee. Sequence of Boy Scouts and members of the Naval Reserve hoisting flag up flagpole as an unidentified man leads the crowd in singing.
Duration: 1:10 at 16 fps.
Appearing: Samuel Abbott, Henry Cabot Lodge, Henry J. Allen, William Boyce Thompson, Henry D. Lindsley, William Loeb Jr., William Gibbs McAdoo.
Film sequence does not follow order of actual events; second sequence, children at the grave, is unverified.
Photographed on October 25, 1919 in New York City, and October 27, 1919 in Oyster Bay, New York.
May have originally been part of a newsreel.
Roosevelt Memorial Association inventory number RMA 305-02-12.
Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as digital files.
Sources used: Daily news, New York, October 25, 1919, p. 8; The New York times mid-week pictorial. v. 10, no. 10, 1919, p. 9; New York American, October 25, 1919, p. 11; LC Prints & Photographs Division portrait file; The Theodore Roosevelt Association...catalog, p. 42-73.
Collection transferred to LC from National Park Service in 1967. Previous owners: Roosevelt Memorial Association; Urban.
The Theodore Roosevelt Association film collection : a catalog / prepared by Wendy White-Henson and Veronica M. Gillespie. Library of Congress, 1986.