Bear Teddy is one of the most popular cuddly toys in the 20th – 21st centuries. The history of its name is associated with US President Theodor Roosevelt who was nicknamed Teddy.

In 1902, President was present at a hunting and saw how dogs almost brought to bay a black American bear. The wounded animal was caught, fastened to osier and Theodor Roosevelt was offered to shoot the prey. However, President refused and the bear was shot by some other hunter. Everybody started to speak about that incident; caricatures devoted to Roosevelt appeared in newspapers. A mature bear transformed into a small bear and got the name Teddy in Washington Post.

One of such cartoons caught the eye of a family of Russian emigrants and owners of Brooklyn bonbon store Rose and Morris Michtom. It was Rose who sewed the first toy bear from velvet. The toy was named Bear Teddy and showcased. Later, when bears became popular, the Michtoms appealed to Theodor Roosevelt with a request to permit them to sell bears under the name Teddy. President was confused, however he gave his consent. In 1903 the couple founded Ideal Novelty and Toy Company and opened their own toy store.

In 1902 German bears appeared alongside the American Teddy bears. In the city of Giengen an der Brenz artist Richard Steiff created a toy with the similar name. He was the first one to come up with an idea to make the limbs and head of the bear rotating by 360 degrees.

In Russia until the 20th century the production of toys was of artisanal (amateurish) nature; private craftsmen or small сraft societies dealt with it. Nuns of the Holy Protection Nunnery sewed not only bears but also other animals and sold across different villages and at the fairs in Sergiyev Posad.

In early 1930 the Russian plush bear paws were fastened with the help of plywood disks while the head was sewn to the body in such a way that it was stationary.

The museum bear is made of plush and silk. Inside the toy there are plastic plates inserted. Only paws can rotate with this Teddy. The bear was sewn at one of the Russian craft societies in the first half of the 20th century.