Theodore Roosevelt Statue Is Removed From New York’s Natural-History Museum
The bronze monument, long the subject of debate in the city, will be moved to the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota
A crane lifted the bronze part of the statue outside the American Museum of Natural History overnight Wednesday. CAITLIN OCHS/REUTERS
By
Jennifer Calfas Follow
Updated Jan. 20, 2022 12:33 pm ET
A statue of Theodore Roosevelt that stood in front of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City for decades was removed, the result of years of debate over a monument that critics said glorified colonialism.
A crane lifted the bronze portion of the statue up from the museum’s Central Park West entrance overnight Wednesday, according to the museum and images and videos of the removal process.
The statue, by James Earle Fraser, shows the 26th U.S. president on horseback flanked by a Native American man and African man on foot. Named the “Equestrian Statue of Theodore Roosevelt,” it was commissioned in 1925 and unveiled in 1940 at the museum, which his father had helped found.
The museum requested the statue be removed in June 2020 as the movement for racial justice after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis prompted many institutions to re-examine monuments. Owned by New York City, the statue sat on public parkland. The New York City Public Design Commission approved its removal unanimously in June 2021.
The statue, by James Earle Fraser, shows the 26th U.S. president on horseback flanked by a Native American man and African man on foot.PHOTO: ZUMA PRESS
The statue was designed to celebrate Mr. Roosevelt as a devoted naturalist, according to the museum. “At the same time, the statue itself communicates a racial hierarchy that the Museum and members of the public have long found disturbing,” the museum says on its website.
The sculpture has been the subject of criticism and debate in the city for many years, with some defending its placement and others saying it should be removed. In 2017 and 2018, a New York City commission weighed whether to remove the statue. Failing to reach a consensus, the city eventually kept the monument in place and asked the museum to provide additional context.
The statue will now be moved to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, N.D., which is set to open in 2026. The library’s board says the statue is “problematic in its composition” and lacked context on the steps of the museum in New York, the library said in a statement in November. The organization plans to create an advisory council with representatives from Black and Indigenous communities, as well as historians, scholars and artists, to determine how to best place the statue in context at the library.
Theodore Roosevelt V, a descendant of the former president, said in November he supported the removal of the statue from the front of the museum.
“Rather than burying a troubling work of art, we ought to learn from it,” he said in a statement shared by the library. “It is fitting that the statue is being relocated to a place where its composition can be recontextualized to facilitate difficult, complex, and inclusive discussions.”
The $2 million project to relocate the statue began Tuesday in coordination with historic-preservation specialists and city officials, according to a statement from the American Museum of Natural History. The museum plans to restore the steps in front of the museum by the spring.
Workers secured part of the statue after its removal from outside the museum’s entrance.PHOTO: CAITLIN OCHS/REUTERS
The American Museum of Natural History will remain the state’s official memorial for Theodore Roosevelt. A rotunda in the museum, featuring a dinosaur exhibit, is named after him, and a memorial hall displays details about the former president and New York native at four stages of his life.
The museum in 2019 opened an exhibition called “Addressing the Statue” that included details about how the bronze monument came to be and shared perspectives from artists, scholars and museum visitors on the statue. The physical exhibition will close after Sunday, a museum spokesperson said, though it will remain on the museum’s website.
Statues of historical U.S. figures have often prompted debate in communities around the country. Some Confederate monuments and symbols have been removed in recent years amid debate over whether they celebrate slavery or serve as a history lesson. Statues of other historical figures who owned slaves or participated in the oppression of minority groups have also drawn criticism.
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