A Person Who Loves Collecting Teddy Bears Is Called An Arctophile.

On September 9th, National Teddy Bear Day honors the history of one of childhood’s favorite toys. We have all had a special cuddly teddy as a child. Some of us still have our teddy bear from our childhood. No matter what kind of teddy bear you had, the day is a perfect time to celebrate your childhood friend!

• In 1902, American President Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear cub while hunting in Mississippi. The incident made national news. Clifford Berryman published a cartoon of the event in the Washington Post on November 16th, 1902, and the caricature became an instant classic.
• The Berryman cartoon of Teddy Roosevelt and the cub inspired New York store owner Morris Michtom. He created a new toy and even had a name in mind. Michtom wrote President Roosevelt to ask permission to name the new toy a “Teddy Bear.”
• The Oxford English Dictionary dates the first use of the term teddy bear to 1906
• Big Bird from Sesame Street named his Teddy Bear “Radar”.
• The lasagna-loving cat celebrated on Garfield the Cat Day armed himself with Pooky, his lovable scapegoat.
• The British invasion of Teddy Bears includes Winnie-the-Pooh and Paddington.
• In 1981, the Care Bears first became greeting cards. Not long after, they launched into television and toy history.
• Let’s not forget the Muppet character Fozzie Bear. The lovable and comedic bear endlessly perseveres with one-liners, slapstick and musical comedy.
• The classic song, ‘Teddy Bear’s Picnic.’  was written in 1907, shortly after teddy bears were first manufactured in Europe and America.
• The Teddy Bears’ Picnic song was originally called The Teddy Bear Two Step.
• The Teddy Bears’ Picnic song was composed in 1907 by JK Bratton. Its words by Jimmy Kennedy were added in 1932.
• In 1902 Germany, the Steiff family developed a silk-like fabric bear, based on zoo animals. They caused a sensation at a toy fair and were snapped up by an American buyer.
• They aren’t just for children – 40% of teddy sales are for adults, and a quarter of us still have our childhood companions.
• A teddy bear has been into space! Magellan T Bear boarded the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1995 as part of a school project.
• If you love teddy bears, you are officially an arctophile (say “ark-toe-file”)! That’s from the Greek words arctos (meaning bear) and philos (meaning loving).
• There’s probably no bigger arctophile than Jackie Miley of South Dakota.  She holds the Guinness World Record for having the most teddy bears — 8,026 at the time the record was set in 2012!  She has so many, she keeps them in a separate house across the street from where she lives.
• The story of Goldilocks And The Three Bears was written in 1837 by Robert Southey who was the Poet Laureate at the time.
•  In Southey’s original story, the visitor to the bears’ house was an ugly old woman. Goldilocks only entered the tale in later versions.
• The term “bear hug” meaning a tight embrace was first used in 1846, almost 60 years before teddy bear was “born”.
•  A staggering 5,000 artists globally make their money from designing custom made teddy bears, according to the Chicago Tribune in 2020
• After the Titanic sank in 1912, German toy company Steiff created 500 teddy bears to honor the victims. The “mourning bears” were black with red-rimmed eyes to show their sympathy. They now sell for $20,000 or more in auctions.
•  The oldest known Recordable teddy bear was made in 1887 and belonged to a soldier named Albert Lasker, who brought it back from France after the war ended.
• There are more than 500 types of Teddy Bears on sale at any time (as of 2019).
• Over 90% of teddy bears sold in the United States are created in China.
• The name “teddy bear” was first used in 1903 when a toy dealer named Edward Bear made stuffed animals for children at his shop on Broadway in New York City. He called them “teddies.”
• In Europe, Russia, and China, giving a bear without mentioning its name first is considered bad luck. This is why many Russian teddies have names such as Vladimir or Natasha inscribed on them!
• In 2004, more than 36 million teddy bears were sold in the U.S. alone!
• In December 2009, a new record was set for the most teddy bears sold in one day – more than 5 million bears!
• In 2013, it was reported that the average American spent about $220 on teddy bears each year!

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Days of the Year

5 Miles

CBC

Express

Bearegards