Where did the teddy bear come from?

It’s a child’s best friend, a comfort during illness, and one of the most popular toys ever invented. What is this remarkable creation? The answer is the teddy bear, which has a rather remarkable history.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Margarete Steiff owned a stuffed toy business in Germany. She employed her nephew Richard Steiff who loved to sketch bear cubs at the zoo, and in 1902, the company decided to make a stuffed toy bear based on Richard’s drawings.

Just prior to the creation of the stuffed bear in Germany, U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt had been on a bear-hunting trip in Mississippi in which he found no animals to capture. Near the end of his trip, someone finally caught a bear but President Roosevelt refused to shoot it. Clifford Berryman drew up a political cartoon to commemorate the occasion that was widely circulated in the United States. The cartoon inspired a couple in 1902 in Brooklyn, New York, to make a toy bear in honor of the president, and they named it “Teddy’s Bear.” Placing it on sale in their candy store, Teddy’s Bear was an instant hit and soon the Michtoms had founded the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company, the first teddy bear producing company in the U.S.A.

As the news and craze over Teddy’s Bear spread, a buyer in Germany purchased thousands of Richard Steiff’s bears and went on to sell them in the United States. Soon the bears were known simply as “teddy bears” and people across the country one for their own. The teddy bear became a cultural phenomenon with Roosevelt even using a bear in his re-election campaign as a mascot. Many bear-manufacturing companies were started in the United States and the bears were given as gifts to children all over the country. But the bears were also popular in England, and one father named A.A. Milne was inspired to write stories about the bear that his son Christopher Robin owned. This bear would be named Winnie the Pooh in these stories, which would go on to create a whole industry of toys, movies, clothes, and more devoted to Milne’s characters.

Not every toy company that produced bears in the early years could survive, but the teddy bear’s place was cemented in history. In the 1970s, teddy bears began to achieve popularity as adult collectibles and thousands of “bear artists” began handcrafting bears and offering them for sale to collectors. But this does not mean that the teddy bear ceased to be sought after as a child’s plaything. In fact, the massive influence of teddy bears has continued to be felt in the innumerable variety of bears created specifically for children. In the 1980s, the American Greetings Card Company introduced the Care Bears, each with its own symbol on its tummy, to an eager market. The popular animatronic bear named Teddy Ruxpin was also introduced in this decade. To this day new varieties of teddy bears are introduced every year.

No matter where we go, there is sure to be a teddy bear there who has worked his way into the hearts of children and parents alike. They will continue to serve as the favorite toys of kids all over the world.

GENERAL TEDDY BEAR SITES

• I Love Teddies — general information on teddy bears including a list of famous bears, links to other teddy bear sites, and more

• Teddy Bear and Friends — page with tons of articles from the website of a magazine devoted to teddy bears.

FAMOUS BEARS

• Care Bears — American Greetings’ page celebrating twenty-five years of Care Bears

• Paddington Bear — official website about Paddington Bear

• Teddy Ruxpin — lots of information about the famous talking teddy bear

• Winnie the Pooh — Disney’s official page on Winnie the Pooh and friends

TEDDY BEARS IN POP CULTURE

• Analysis of Teddy Bear Stories — one researcher’s insights into the form, structure, and common themes of teddy bear stories

• One Hundred Years of Teddy Bears — BBC web story on the 100^th anniversary of the teddy bear

• Teddy Bear Stories — listing of Teddy Bear stories with links to story sites

• Teddy Bears' Picnic — lyrics to the famous song

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