A real Pooh Timeline:

A real Pooh timeline:

1920
August 21, Christopher Robin Milne born.
1921
August 21, 18" - high teddy bear (Winnie-the-Pooh), from Harrod's in London, given to Christopher Robin Milne on his first birthday.
1924
When We Were Very Young published.
1925
Pooh first appeared in the London Evening News on Christmas Eve 1925 in a story called The Wrong Sort of Bees.
1926
Winnie-the-Pooh published.
1927
Now We Are Six published.
1928
The House at Pooh Corner published.
1947
Former Dutton Publishing President Elliott Macrae visits A.A. Milne at his house in Surrey, and sees the original toy animals that inspired Winnie-the-Pooh.
The real Pooh and friends tour the United States.
1956
The real Pooh and friends put on display at E.P. Dutton & Co. Publishers in New York City.
1969
The real Pooh and friends make a temporary visit back to England for an exhibition of the drawings of Ernest H. Shepard, on the occasion of the illustrator's 90th birthday.
1973
Winnie-the-Pooh, new edition with color illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard, published.
1976
The real Pooh and friends make their last trip to England to participate in the 50th birthday of Winnie-the-Pooh arranged by Methuen & Company Publishers.
1987
September 11, Presentation of the real Pooh and friends to The New York Public Library, where they are put on display for the public.
1988
The real Pooh and friends receive professional conservation treatment that includes vacuuming and assorted repairs.
1998
Pooh and his friends become the center of international attention when a British Member of Parliament decides they should be returned to England.
The United States and England agree that Pooh and his pals are happy and healthy on American soil, and it is unanimously decided that they will remain at The New York Public Library.

A real Pooh timeline:

The REAL Winnie-the-Pooh won't be found on a video, in a movie, on a T-shirt or a lunchbox. Since 1987, the REAL Pooh and four of his best friends--Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga, and Tigger--have been living at The New York Public Library.
Long before Walt Disney turned Pooh and his pals into movie stars, Christopher Robin Milne, a very real little boy living in England, received a small stuffed bear on his first birthday. He named him Edward Bear (later renamed Winnie-the-Pooh). Following Edward came the rest of the stuffed animals, which Christopher loved and played with throughout his childhood.
One day, Christopher's father, A.A. Milne, and an artist named Ernest H. Shepard, decided that these animals, and two other imaginary friends, Owl and Rabbit, would make fine characters in a bedtime story. From that day on, Pooh and his friends have had many fanciful adventures, from Piglet's encounter with a Heffalump to Eeyore's loss of his tail. These stories have been embraced by millions of children and adult readers for more than 70 years.
Anyone can visit the real Winnie-the-Pooh and his pals. Every year thousands of children and their parents have come to see them. They have recently moved from their previous home in the Central Children's Room to grand new quarters in the History and Social Science Library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. Pooh and his friends are as happy as when they lived in the 100 Acre Wood.

From:http://www.nypl.org/branch/central/dlc/dch/pooh/timeline.html

Pooh Goes Visiting

Pooh always liked a little something at eleven o'clock in the morning, and he was very glad to see Rabbit getting out the plates and mugs; and when Rabbit said, 'Honey or condensed milk with your bread?' he was so exited that he said, 'Both' and then, so as not to seem greedy, he added, 'But don't bother about the bread, please.'
And for a long time after that he said nothing...until at last, humming to himself in a rather sticky voice, he got up, shook Rabbit lovingly by the paw, and said that he must be going on. 'Must you?' said Rabbit politely. 'Well,' said Pooh, 'I could stay a little longer if it-if you-' and he tried very hard to look in the direction of the larder. 'As a matter of fact,' said Rabbit, 'I was going out myself directly.' 'Oh well, then, I'll be going on. Good bye.' 'Well good bye, if you're sure you won't have any more.' 'Is there any more?' asked Pooh quickly. Rabbit took the covers of the dishes, and said 'No, there wasn't.' 'I thought not,' said Pooh, nodding to himself. 'Well Good-bye, I must be going on.'
So he started to climb out of the hole. He pulled with his front paws, and pushed with his back paws, and in a little while his nose was in the open again ... and then his ears ... and then his front paws ... and then his shoulders ... and then-'Oh, help!' said Pooh, 'I'd better go back,' 'Oh bother!' said Pooh, 'I shall have to go on.' 'I can't do either!' said Pooh, 'Oh help and bother!' ...
...Christopher Robin nodded. 'Then there's only one thing to be done,' he said. 'We shall have to wait for you to get thin again.' 'How long does getting thin take?' asked Pooh anxiously. 'About a week I should think.' 'But I can't stay here for a week!' 'You can stay here all right, silly old Bear. It's getting you out which is so difficult.' 'We'll read to you,' said Rabbit cheerfully. 'And I hope it won't snow,' he added. 'And I say, old fellow, you're taking up a good deal of room in my house - do you mind if I use your back legs as a towel-horse? Because, I mean, there they are - doing nothing - and it would be very convenient just to hang the towels on them. 'A Week!' said Pooh gloomily. 'What about meals?' 'I'm afraid no meals,' said Christopher Robin,
'because of getting thin quicker. But we will read to you.' Bear began to sigh, and then found he couldn't because he was so tightly stuck; and a tear rolled down his eye, as he said: 'Then would you read a Sustaining Book, such as would help and comfort a Wedged Bear in Great Tightness?' So for a week Christopher Robin read that sort of book at the North end of Pooh, and Rabbit hung his washing on the South end... and in between Bear felt himself getting slenderer and slenderer. And at the end of the week Christopher Robin said,
'Now!'
So he took hold of Pooh's front paws and Rabbit took hold of Christopher Robin, and all Rabbit's friends and relations took hold of Rabbit, and they all pulled together ... And for a long time Pooh only said 'Ow!' ... And 'Oh!' ... And then, all of a sudden he said 'Pop!' just if a cork were coming out of a bottle. And Christopher Robin and Rabbit and all relations went head-over-heels backwards ...and on top of them came Winnie-the-Pooh free! So with a nod of thanks to his friends, he went on with his walk through the forest, humming proudly to himself. But Christopher Robin looked after him lovingly, and said to himself 'Silly Old Bear!'

From:http://www.just-pooh.com/story1.html

However, there is little doubt about the origins of the bear and I am very grateful to Gordon Crossley, the Regimental Historian of The Fort Garry Horse in Winnipeg, Canada, who generously gave me the background history of the original Winnie, the American black bear cub who was the inspiration for A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh, the loveable Bear of Very Little Brain.


Lieutenant Colebourn with Winnie on Salisbury Plain, ≈December, 1914
© Manitoba Archives, Winnipeg
In August, 1914, Lieutenant Harry Colebourn, a Veterinary Officer with the 34th Fort Garry Horse of Manitoba, was travelling by train from his home in Winnipeg to enroll in the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps in Valcartier, Quebec.

Travelling by Canadian Pacific Railway, his train made a stop at White River in Ontario, where he noticed a man further along the station platform with an American black bear cub tied to the arm of the bench on which he was seated.

He struck up a conversation and, learning that the man was a trapper who had shot and killed the cub's mother, Colebourn offered him $20 for the young bear -- the trapper eagerly accepted the offer and the cub was taken to Quebec, where she became the mascot of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade, as Harry had been assigned to the Headquarters of that formation. One of the units in the 2nd Brigade was the 6th (Fort Garry) Battalion, which had been formed from Harry’s old unit, the 34th Fort Garry Horse.



From:http://www.poohcorner.com/A-Short-History-of-Pooh-and-Winnie.html

Whatever the real story is, there is no doubt that the young Christopher Robin did befriend Winnie at the London Zoo as is evidenced in the picture of him feeding the bear with condensed milk on one of his visits. If you look closely, you will see Alan Milne behind the bars of the bear's enclosure – was he too frightened to go in?Irving also told me the story of how the determined Ernest Shepard finally convinced Alan Milne that he was the best illustrator for his forthcoming book of verses. Evidently the young artist had gone down to the Ashdown Forest and made a number of sketches and, afterwards, without making an appointment, called on Milne at his home at Cotchford Farm one Saturday morning with his portfolio of sketches.Milne, somewhat surprised to see an uninvited guest at his front door, reluctantly asked him in. Inside the entrance hall, Shepard opened his portfolio. Milne was immediately delighted with the drawings and agreed that Shepard should illustrate the poems. The young artist left Cotchford Farm clutching his portfolio a very happy young man. However, two weeks later, Milne began to regret his 'hasty' decision and changed his mind. Fortunately, his older and wiser friends, including F.H. Townsend and E.V. Lucas reassured him – and history was made.However, there is little doubt about the origins of the bear and I am very grateful to Gordon Crossley, the Regimental Historian of The Fort Garry Horse in Winnipeg, Canada, who generously gave me the background history of the original Winnie, the American black bear cub who was the inspiration for A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh, the loveable Bear of Very Little Brain.
Lieutenant Colebourn with Winnie on Salisbury Plain, ≈December, 1914© Manitoba Archives, WinnipegIn August, 1914, Lieutenant Harry Colebourn, a Veterinary Officer with the 34th Fort Garry Horse of Manitoba, was travelling by train from his home in Winnipeg to enroll in the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps in Valcartier, Quebec.
Travelling by Canadian Pacific Railway, his train made a stop at White River in Ontario, where he noticed a man further along the station platform with an American black bear cub tied to the arm of the bench on which he was seated.He struck up a conversation and, learning that the man was a trapper who had shot and killed the cub's mother, Colebourn offered him $20 for the young bear -- the trapper eagerly accepted the offer and the cub was taken to Quebec, where she became the mascot of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade, as Harry had been assigned to the Headquarters of that formation. One of the units in the 2nd Brigade was the 6th (Fort Garry) Battalion, which had been formed from Harry’s old unit, the 34th Fort Garry Horse.

From:http://www.poohcorner.com/A-Short-History-of-Pooh-and-Winnie.html

History of Pooh

A.A. Milne always acknowledged that it was his wife, Daphne, and his young son, Christopher Robin, who inspired him to write the poems and stories – the literary journey began in 1924 when the Very Young Christopher Robin was introduced to an American black bear at the London Zoological Gardens.My searches for the origins of Pooh have led me along many paths for 'the truth,' as there are various versions of Pooh's beginnings. My very dear friend, the late Sir Basil Bartlett, Bart, formerly married to Mary Malcolm, the first BBC Television Announcer, was, among many other things, that rare breed, a diarist.His daily journals, recorded over a period of fifty years are fascinating reading. I have read only about twenty years' worth, but well recall an entry dated some time in the nineteen twenties recording a dinner he had attended at the London home of the late Laurence Irving, grandson of Henry Irving, the legendary Victorian actor and the first Knight of the English theatre.


Christopher Robin Milne with Pooh, Cotchford Farm, Sussex, c. 1925
During the dinner, Irving related to his assembled guests the story of how his neighbour, Alan Milne, had asked him if he would include his son, Christopher, in their next family visit to the London Zoo. Irving agreed, as he felt sure Christopher would enjoy both a day with his children and what would be the young boy's first visit to the Zoo. The expotition took place a few days afterwards. All was fun and excitement for the children, until their arrival at the polar bears' 'house.' At his first sight of the huge white 'monster,' Christopher burst into tears and insisted on being taken home.The party, led by Irving and followed by one miserable crying child who wanted to leave and two very unhappy crying children who wanted to remain, hurriedly left Regent's Park. Some weeks later, Milne lunching at the Garrick Club with Irving, told him a story of Christopher's first triumphant visit to the Zoo, where he had met and fallen in love with a bear and that this had inspired him to write a poem or two to celebrate the occasion and perhaps even eventually a story honouring the visit!Basil read this extract from his diary to me on the day Irving had written a letter to the London Times, containing a brief description of the origins of Pooh, which totally conflicted with the story Irving had related to Basil fifty years before.The following day, I rang Laurence Irving and reminded him of Basil's written record of the event all those years before. He insisted that Basil had romanticised his recollection and he then wrote a letter to me confirming some of the 'facts' printed in the Times. Irving's version relates that he took Christopher on a family outing to the London Zoo with his daughter, Pamela, and the daughter of their mutual friend, John Hastings Turner, and that, after a little trepidation, the young boy decided he liked the huge and friendly bear.The writer, Enid Blyton, of The Famous Five fame, reported that Alan Milne had told her "the bear hugged Christopher Robin and they had a glorious time together, rolling about and pulling ears and all sorts of things." But, I feel it unlikely that a four-year-old boy could romp about with a ten-year-old American black bear as Milne described, but "You never can tell," says Pooh!


From:http://www.poohcorner.com/A-Short-History-of-Pooh-and-Winnie.html