Teddy Bears in American Culture
Teddy bears are one of the toys most associated with childhood. The history of Teddy Bears is well known. When Theodore Roosevelt was president of the United States, he refused to shoot a captive bear for the sake of publicity. A cartoon was drawn and then made its way into the Washington Post. Once the public saw that and a prototype bear was made by an entrepreneurial couple who lived in Brooklyn, the collecting craze was on. Adding to the popularity was the fortunate timing of the Steiff company in Germany. They were releasing their own fuzzy bear toy at the same time that all of this was happening in the United States. Their bears came to a country falling in love with stuffed bears. These old Steiff bears are now quite valuable.
Teddy bears have gone through some ups and downs in their popularity over the years, but they have never left the popular culture. Most children today have some form of favorite stuffed animal that they bond with from an early age. A majority of these are bears. Stuffed bear toys can be found as gifts, prizes at places like carnivals and amusement parks and even as very valuable collectibles that get put up for sale in collectibles shops and online shopping sites like eBay. The accessories that go along with the bears are also quite popular. People who have grown a collection of Teddy bears often decide to take things one step further and build a sizable collection of bear clothing that can be switched up to change to look of each individual bear.
Bears of all sizes and shapes can be found in collections today. Everything from mini-sized bears that can fit on a keychain, up to giant Teddy bears that demand their own full sized rocking chair gets collected by some devoted stuffed animal fan. The Teddy Bear has truly made its way deep into the American culture today and it does not look like it has plans on going away any time soon.