Register of the Riverside Hotel, with Roosevelt's Check-In Signature on the Day of the Lusitania Sinking
signed Hardcover
29 April - 17 August 1915 · Eastport, ME
by [Roosevelt, Franklin Delano]
Eastport, ME, 29 April - 17 August 1915. Hardcover. Very Good. Contemporary half calf; folio (16x10 inches); pp. 152, guest signatures on printed sheets, interspersed with advertising leaves. Binding heavily worn; first and last few leaves a little warped and water-stained (not affecting Roosevelt's signature, which appears on 7 May 1915).
The Assistant Secretary of the Navy was the final guest of the 7 May 1915, registering on his family's behalf as "Mr. & Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Washington." The family took two rooms, presumably to accommodate their four children and any household staff who accompanied them on the journey. The hotel was in Eastport in the eastern tip of Maine, and the Roosevelts were likely en route to their summer retreat at Campobello Island, Canada, a short ferry ride away. The RMS Lusitania had been torpedoed at 2:10 that afternoon, probably before Roosevelt signed in, though the news may not have reached remote Eastport by then. The news would have been of direct professional interest to Roosevelt; he would soon agitate to use the attack as a reason to declare war on Germany. (Inventory #: D12721)
The Assistant Secretary of the Navy was the final guest of the 7 May 1915, registering on his family's behalf as "Mr. & Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Washington." The family took two rooms, presumably to accommodate their four children and any household staff who accompanied them on the journey. The hotel was in Eastport in the eastern tip of Maine, and the Roosevelts were likely en route to their summer retreat at Campobello Island, Canada, a short ferry ride away. The RMS Lusitania had been torpedoed at 2:10 that afternoon, probably before Roosevelt signed in, though the news may not have reached remote Eastport by then. The news would have been of direct professional interest to Roosevelt; he would soon agitate to use the attack as a reason to declare war on Germany. (Inventory #: D12721)