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What follows is a descriptive list of manuscript groups relating to sporting subjects and the outdoors held in the Joyce Sports Research Collection, Department of Special Collections, Hesburgh Libraries of Notre Dame. In addition to manuscript texts, the list includes other non-published formats with some claim to uniqueness, like scrapbooks and photographs. Some of the descriptions that follow are linked to finding aids, to provide readers with fuller information on particular collections.
WALTER SOUTH ILLUSTRATED CYCLING JOURNALS. 1894-1904. 3 vols., 40 cm., 112, 92, and 67 leaves, with 223, 182, and 88 pages of journal entries, tipped-in illustrations, and ephemera. The compiler of these journals, a Philadelphia bookkeeper named Walter South (b. 1863), was an avid amateur cyclist and member of the League of American Wheelmen. The three volumes—a fourth, originally volume 1, is lacking—provide an exhaustive textual and pictorial account of twenty bicycle trips or vacations undertaken by South over a period of ten years, from 1894 to 1904. South often travelled to his cycling destinations by rail or steamship, so his travels were quite wide-ranging, extending from New England to Virginia. The text, entered in a neat, clear hand, is equal parts athletic journal and travelogue. Integrated with this writing are many hundreds of illustrations with a bearing on South's travels. These are, in the main, halftone photographs clipped from collected publications, but there are also original photographic prints (including at least three of South), maps, brochures, and assorted ephemera. MSSP 7000-1-B to MSSP 7000-3-B. [Finding Aid] DENVER WHEEL CLUB SCRAPBOOK. 1896-1897. 1 vol., 32 cm., 198 leaves, with 155 pages of newspaper clippings tipped in. A scrapbook of newspaper clippings on bicycling compiled by W. I. Doty of Denver, Colorado, a member of the Denver Wheel Club. Clippings range in date from November 1896 to August 1897; most appear to derive from local dailies, and so emphasize the Colorado cycling scene. MSSP 7001-1-B. EDWARD NORTON, JR., ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL. 1887-1892. 1 vol., 27 cm., 154 leaves, with 253 pages of manuscript entries, tipped-in illustrative material, and ephemera. An illustrated manuscript record of twenty different recreational outings, undertaken in the environs of New York City in the late 1880s and early 1890s by a group of young men variously identified as the Sagamore Club or the Wayandance Club. The compiler of the volume, Thomas Norton, Jr., (b. 1870), was the son of a Brooklyn shipbroker. In warmer weather the group typically took to the waters of Long Island Sound aboard hired yachts; in fall and winter there were pedestrian outings and carriage rides. The book is illustrated with clippings, pencil and ink drawings, watercolors, and a great many vernacular photographic prints. The whimsical nature of Norton's prose (and poetry) is well communicated by the volume's title: "A True account of the wanderings of Divers Persons on Land and sea and of the miseries, the privations, and the safe return of those Wanderers". MSSP 7002-1-B. DREAM PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM. 1899. 1 vol., 21 x 26 cm., 10 leaves, with 20 pages of photographs. Twenty-one mounted and captioned vernacular photographs recording the recreational cruise of the yacht Dream on Long Island Sound, 21-23 July 1899. The participants are identified only informally. MSSP 7003-1-B. DANIEL P. CONNOR SCRAPBOOK. 1919-1931 (bulk 1923). 1 vol., 37 cm., 116 leaves, with 168 pages of clippings, photographic prints, drawings, and manuscript materials tipped in; 66 additional items laid in. A scrapbook compiled by the physical culture enthusiast Daniel P. Connor (b. 1870) of Manchester, New Hampshire, who, among other activities, taught swimming and diving to the city's youth at the quarry pond known as Amoskeag Ledge. Among Connor's "quarry kids" were a group of boys who performed daredevil dives from heights of up to 100 feet, even in winter. The main focus of the scrapbook is the Manchester Winter Carnival of January 1923, where the divers performed to considerable acclaim. Among the news clippings are 139 photographic prints of Connor and his divers, and another 45 prints of other Carnival activities, primarily athletic. Also present are 20-odd pieces of Connor's correspondence, mostly relating to his divers. MSSP 7004-1-B to MSSP 7004-6. HENRY HALL FISHING LINE COMPANY RECORDS. 1880-1939 (bulk 1880-1900). About 175 pieces of correspondence and other records; 1 brochure. A collection of business records of the fishing line company founded in 1840 by the flax spinner Henry Hall, at Highland Mills, Orange County, New York. Included are around 100 records from the early 1880s, mostly orders and invoices from customers and suppliers. Also present are around 75 pieces of correspondence written in 1900 by D. D. Anderson of the New York sales office, directed to company president Alexander G. Hall at Highland Mills. From 1882 to 1895 the concern was known as Henry Hall & Sons; from 1898 to 1904 it was Henry Hall Sons Co. MSSP 7005-1 to MSSP 7005-28. INNITOU CANOE CLUB RECORD BOOK. 1887-1888. 1 vol., 22 cm., with 52 pages of manuscript plus blanks. A manuscript notebook with records of the Innitou Canoe Club of Woburn, Massachusetts. The club appears to have been founded in 1887 by a group of local enthusiasts, who gathered for races on Horn Pond and adjacent waters. The club lacked rooms or a boathouse. Records include a club constitution with amendments, a list of members, reports of some 34 meetings, and race results. MSSP 7006-1-B. "SUMMER RAMBLES IN THE NEW YORK WILDERNESS". 1869. 1 vol., 23 cm., 21 leaves, with 33 pages of newspaper clippings and illustrations tipped in; 1 map bound in. The text of this volume consists of an article published by John Saurin Norris (1813-1882) in the weekly Baltimore Saturday Night in 1869, describing travel and sport in the Adirondack region. The presentation is elaborate, with clipped segments of the article mounted one per page, with ruled ink borders; the whole is bound in brown morocco, with titles stamped in gilt. Bound in is a copy of W. W. Ely's Map of the New York Wilderness (New York, 1869). Saurin describes fishing and deer hunting (including night hunting or "floating"), as well as the guides who typically attended tourists in the wilderness. MSSP 7007-1-B. RANDOLPH HUNTINGTON CORRESPONDENCE. 1881-1903. 53 letters, with envelopes. A group of 53 letters from 27 correspondents directed to the noted horse breeder Randolph Huntington (b. 1828), of Rochester and Oyster Bay, New York. Huntington is best remembered for what he called his Clay-Arabs, bred by crossing the Clay family of American trotting horses with imported Arabians. With the depression of 1893 Huntington's operation was forced into receivership, and his stock sold. All the letters in the collection deal with horses and breeding; most post-date the sale of his Clay-Arabs on 22-23 February 1894. MSSP 7008-1 to MSSP 7008-53. HARTING/STRUTT COLLECTION. 1834-1921. 1 printed vol., annotated, with numerous clippings tipped and laid in. A copy of the 1834 edition of Joseph Strutt's The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England owned by James Edmund Harting (1841-1928), an English naturalist and sporting journalist also remembered for being one of the era's great authorities on hawking. Strutt's classic work on medieval English recreations has been extensively annotated by Harting, who apparently intended to publish an updated or edited version of the book (which never appeared). The book originally contained hundreds of tipped and inserted clippings and other material (now mostly relocated to folders), constituting notes and research material for Harting's project. MSSP 7009-1-B to MSSP 7009-36. E. B. C. JOURNALS. 1901-1949 (bulk 1901-1906). 4 vols., 18 cm., 206 pages. Four manuscript journals kept by a young man identifiable only as E. B. C., mainly describing canoeing trips along the Penobscot River in the Maine woods in the summers of 1901, 1902, 1905, and 1906. The volumes include daily journal entries as well as notes on expenditures, provisions, and flora and fauna. The author's guide on each occasion was Henry Francis, a Native American from Oldtown. MSSP 7010-1 to MSSP 7010-4. WILLIAM BATCHELDER CORRESPONDENCE. 1851-1910 (bulk 1863-1886). About 900 letters, many with envelopes; 10 pieces of printed ephemera. The Batchelder correspondence consists primarily of business and personal letters directed to William Batchelder, an oar manufacturer in Lancaster, Coos County, New Hampshire. Batchelder was born in Effingham, New Hampshire in 1826 or 1827, the eldest son of the farmer Stephen Batchelder (1791-1870) and Betsey Hutching. The family's involvement with the crafting of oars dates to at least the 1850s; in the 1860 Federal census both Stephen and William Batchelder are identified as "Master Oarmakers". After the Civil War W. & J. Batchelder (subsequently William Batchelder & Co.) grew into an important supplier for oar retailers in Boston, Portland, Gloucester, and elsewhere. By the later 1870s Batchelder was receiving orders from firms in Chicago and San Francisco. Individual orders range from a few oars to more than 500. Many of his wholesale customers were boat builders, including at least one—Oliver & Tullis of Philadelphia—who specialized in racing shells. The Batchelder collection includes around 730 incoming business letters, ranging in date from 1863 to 1886. Common types include orders, inquiries, freight and shipping arrangements, late payment excuses, and occasional complaints regarding quality. Some of these letters include Batchelder's endorsements, often in shorthand. Taken together, the letters shed light on most aspects of Batchelder's business, from raw material procurement and product promotion to sales, shipping, credit extension, and payment. Also in the collection are around 220 personal letters, mostly directed to William and mostly dating from the 1860s, 70s, and 80s. These are typically from his parents, his many siblings, and his children. Some have a direct bearing on the business, especially those written in the 1860s by his brother (and partner) John (b. 1829). MSN MN 5010-1 to MSN/MN 5010-112. ERNST FAMILY PHOTOGRAPH ALBUMS. 1899-1905. 2 vols., 25 x 33 and 28 x 38 cm., 24 and 24 leaves, with 260 and 267 silver photographic prints tipped in. Two albums of vernacular photographs recording the travels and activities of the Louis and Josephine Ernst family of Rochester, New York. The photographs were apparently taken by Louis Ernst (1849-1924), a hardware merchant; most are 3 1/4 inches square, though a few are larger. The albums were meticulously compiled. Prints are grouped by the occasion or outing they record, with each occasion identified and dated; many individual prints bear captions. The Ernsts (Louis, Josephine, and their son Joseph) were cycling enthusiasts, and many of the photographs are views taken on trips by bicycle (i.e., "Bicycle Tour Cleveland to Buffalo", 1899, and "Bicycle Tour among the [Finger] Lakes", 1900). Most of the images are of locations in upstate New York, including a group of 20 prints taken at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo in 1901. MSSP 7011-1-B to MSSP 7011-2-B. PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM. ca. 1910. 1 vol., 25 x 36 cm., with 317 photographic prints mounted or tipped in; 50 additional photographs enclosed. An album of vernacular photographs recording the outdoor leisure activities of an unidentified American family, probably from the Northeast. None of the prints has identifying information, but the pictures are organized into discrete series. The most notable of these series (143 photographs) appears to depict a canoeing and fishing expedition to the Canadian North, with many images of native guides and their settlements. MSSP 7012-1-B to MSSP 7012-9 T. W. INGERSOLL'S SPORTSMAN'S SERIES STEREOVIEW CARDS. ca. 1905. 100 chromolithographed stereoscopic cards, in original box. Subjects include 82 hunting, fishing, and camping scenes from locations across North America, as well as 18 scenes of Native American camp life. Cards bear extended descriptions on the reverse. Numbered 401 to 500, with copyrights ranging from 1898 to 1905. MSSP 7013-1-B. YORK AND AINSTY FOXHUNTING JOURNAL. 1902-1904. 2 vols., 21 x 27 cm. Two volumes of manuscript journal entries by an unidentified sportsman, recording the details of 134 days of foxhunting, mostly with the York and Ainsty Hunt in Yorkshire, England. Entries are on printed forms dedicated to the purpose. Dates range from 18 September 1902 to 12 February 1904. MSSP 7014-1-B to MSSP 7014-2-B.
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