Im susan ravrn curator, this was a collaboration the library did with major League Baseball, espn, and the Baseball Hall of fame in cooperstown. Weve got some incredible things here on display, things youve probably never seen before. Lets start with some of the earliest. So right now were standing in the front of the exhibit looking at origins and early days where weve got some interesting artifacts that suggest that baseball has a history thats much longer than the 19th century. In fact, weve got an example here from a medieval manuscript. These are little miniature figures that were part of the border of a book produced in 1334. And you can see here weve got a monk and a nun with a ball and a bat and a couple of monks and nuns in a very primitive outfield. But it shows you bats and balls were being played for centuries before europeans began calling different kinds of games baseball. Our next stop here is this cute little book i absolutely adore. Its one of my favorite items in our collections. Its a little pretty pocketbook from 1787. And it includes here a little Wood Cut Drawing of children playing baseball with three posts. The Word Baseball is printed there, and theres a little poem suggesting that a boy runs home with joy. So already the lexicon is showing up in the late 18th century, the Word Baseball, the term home. This was actually first produced in 1744 in britain, and its not until it comes to the United States in 1787 that the word first shows up in print in america. As a parallel item to that weve got this diary, this is an original page from a Student Diary in 1786, John Ray smith who is attending the college of new jersey that later becomes princeton university. And on wednesday, march 72nd he writes a fine day, play baseball but am beaten for i Cant Catch or hit. Hes not a great player. And in the following year the College Faculty will ban baseball as being unbecoming of a gentleman. But this is the earliest written reference that we have to baseball. So already the game is on college campuses. Already its being played by boys who are much older than children. These are probably older teenagers who are playing this game. Couple of other things to note here in the early going of the game. Weve got examples from the 1850s of the new York Game and the massachusetts game. You can see in the new York Game the very familiar diamond that were all used to. But massachusetts had a competitive Rival Game which was in the shape of a rectangle. And these two sort of battled for supremacy in the mid19th century. But its the new York Game with the popularity of the new York Press their enthusiasm for the game, their constant coverage of the game eventually its the new York Game thats going to win out. Of the things weve just shown you everything in here is original with the exception of this blow up of the illuminated manuscript. These are all from original all original pages. And one of the things that surprises a lot of people when they come to the library of congress and they see this exhibit or hear us talk about is that we have very large sport collections. Were a premier secret Sports Archive if you will at the library. Through Copyright Weve received everything from early rule books to team directories to hand written histories of leagues and things. So theres a great deal of material that we have here to work with in documenting not just baseball but a number of sports. Next i want to show you something that was recent lerediscovered that had been hidden away in a Desk Drawer for years and no one really realized the importance of it florida recently and these were the founding documents of american baseball. So here we are in front of whats been called Baseballs Magna Carta. These are the founding documents that were used at the 1857 Baseball Convention in new York City that laid out the rules of the game that we have come to know as american baseball. And what happened was the Knickerbockers Baseball Club of New York gathered about a dozen other teams, and they presented a series of rules they could all adopt to develop a standard uniform game. Up until that time teams played by different rules and you couldnt have meaningful competition while that was going on. So doc adams who was the leader of the Baseball Club drafted what he calls the laws of baseball. Those were combined with william grenells rules which addressed issues on playing conditions of the field and umpires. And through those two documents they put together this red ribboned document, laws of baseball that the Rules Committee used at the convention. And its here out of these sessions that several major essential fundamental rules were developed. Nine players to a side, nine innings in a game, 90 feet between the bases. So some of the things we have come to accept as the essentials of baseball, this is where they are agreeing to these rules. This is where theyre coming from. The documents were not known to really exist actually until 2016. After the convention they eventually wound up in the hands of william grenells granddaughter. She kept the papers in a Desk Drawer. They eventually were collected into a box of maps and went on auction in 1999. No one realized their value then, but then when they went on auction in 2016 historians were able to do some forensic and historical analysis and determine that these were incredibly valuable papers so theyve not been seen wildly. This was the first major exhibition that whats called Baseballs Magna Carta has actually been on display. So were really excited theyre here at the library. Its almost as important in some ways as some of our other founding documents. So next well take a look at how Baseball Spread across the United States. So were continuing here with baseballs origins and early days. And a good way to demonstrate that is with the earliest Baseball Coverage of an intercoliegeiate game. This first intercollegiate game was between williams and amherst. They were playing by the massachusetts rules and the scoring was clearly a little different. Amherst 73, williams 32. But the importance of this document which is probably the only original which still survives is that this is an early stab at sports writing. And a lot of the coverage, in fact, involves how the players arrived at this game site, how they liked their hotel, accommodations, things like that. So its an unusual document. Also the game was part of a doubleheader, baseball and chess. So one day they played baseball. The next day there was a Chess Match, and coverage of the Chess Match is on the other side as well. So we have also here a really early Box Score which just shows the names of the players, the tallies, the number of times that they came home and the number of outs that they made. Not long after that, after the civil war what we have here is whats considered a prototype for baseball cards, and its considered the earliest existing baseball card. Its the brooklyn atlantics, champions of america. They went to the studio, had their photo taken, made copies and theyd pass this out to their fans and admiresers as well as to opposing teams. Its not for another 20 or more years before manufactured baseball cards as we come to know them are being produced. So this is probably the earliest example of a trading card. Up here this is an example of the game spreading across the United States. The civil war was actually a huge catalyst for spreading baseball. A lot of the northern soldiers introduced it to southerners in prison camps. This was an original print that was produced during the war. Union prisoners at salisbury, north carolina. The likelihood they were playing baseball in prison camps diminished, but early in the war there are documented instances of this happening. And finally after the war just a few years later, 1869 cincinnati red stockings become the first professional Baseball Team, the first team that is openly paid. And not long after that other club owners decide we arent going to have amateurs in the game gm, were paying everyone. And this is a commemorative print of that first team that had an undefeated season in 1869. Now weve got soldiers after the war taken the game westward, more and more people are playing, and lets take a look at who those folks are. So this is a section we have on whos playing back in the 19th century. And just about everyone is, but the only people who are really being paid for it are white men on major League Baseball teams. What we have here from 1887 is an uncut sheet of baseball cards from the first year they were produced. Tobacco companies would tuck in individual cards into their cigarette packages as a way of promoting not only their product but you could collect a number of packages and then submit it later for a nicer, bigger card. Whats interesting about the washington Baseball Club cards here is that they are uncut. And those are pretty rare. You dont find them often. This was submitted for copyright here at the library of congress. And just as juxtaposition we have here a larger set from 1994, also uncut, submitted for copyright. But here you can see although some of the poses have stayed the same, the diversity of the players has changed tremendously. And weve got a lot more black and hispanic players which you certainly did not have in the 1880s in the major leagues. One of the most important people of that era and in fact in Baseball History is john montgomery ward. He wrote this baseball book, how to become a player. And hes one of the first to write such a book. It was also an attempt to look at the actual historical origins of baseball. He spends most of his time as a pitcher and later as a shortstop also working to improve the life of the average Baseball Player who usually picked up low paying jobs in the offseason as a Farmer Or Railroad worker. And he fought against what became known as the Reserve Clause in baseball. This was a clause that was included in all contracts for players in which their rights were held by the club in perpetuity. So unless a player was traded or sold to another team, he had no say where he played or even how much he was paid. And this Reserve Clause of course is something Baseball Players are going to battle throughout much of the 20th century as well. But it really starts with john montgomery ward. And in 1880 he almost singlehandedly forms the players league. It became the third major league in baseball. It only lasted one year because even though he was able to attract a lot of star players to his league, they could not compete financially against the established teams in the national league and the american association. And ultimately it fell apart after a year. But this was an early attempt among Baseball Players to control their own destiny and to determine how much they were paid and how much they were worth. So from the 1880s on until 1947 major League Baseball was played only by white men. But that starts to change and well take a look at innegro leagues over in the next case. So for black players who are not permitted to play in the major leagues, a lot of them started their own barnstorming teams. Weve got an example of a team here from the 1880s in danbury, connecticut. Its not until the 1920s it fosters the negro league which was a professional league. A number of teams participated in that. But we have examples here from the indianapolis clowns, a program from one of their games, a signed baseball from satchel page, a phenomenal pitcher who got his start for many years in the negro leagues. He continues to pitch until hes 59 in the major leagues actually. While thats going on, while africanamericans are having to make their way with their own leagues other brands of baseball are developing. What we have here is an image of the worlds champions indoor Baseball Team from 1905. And indoor baseball was invented in 1887 in chicago. It was a way for teams to keep in shape in the offseason in the winter but almost immediately indoor baseball moves outdoors. And what characterizes indoor baseball was larger balls, smaller bats, smaller diamonds. And its not until 1926 indoor baseball adopts the name most of us know the game as and thats softball. Another thing to point out here is that while black players were not getting nearly the publicity white players were, they also were not appearing on the baseball cards that were being issued by Tobacco Companies. What weve got here is a fantastic collection of really early baseball cards from 1887 to 1914. All of these cards are original. They all represent a different Set Or Brand of cards that appeared. Youve got a couple of small cards that are only about 2 inches long. You can see here at shortstop and second base. Weve got Tye Cobb down there batting and those were premium cards. And if you sent in enough cigarette packages to show you had bought all these tobacco products, you could trade that in and receive a large a large premium card. These cards are part of the benjamin k. Edwards collection, a phenomenal collection of cards of not only Baseball Players but of trapeze artist, circus performers, billiards players and all kinds of athletes appeared on these cards but it was baseball that won out. The popularity of baseball was such most people were interested in collecting those cards and eventually Tobacco Companies turned to producing only baseball cards. The other people who were not featured on baseball cards were of course female players but there were women out there playing on organized teams in organized leagues early as well. Well go over to this next case and take a look at them. So other people who are playing in the game of course are women. Even in the 19th century they had barnstorming teams. This is fantastic team from 1913, the New York female giants, their captain, the woman whos holding the two bats there excelled in every sport including cliff diving. And she later had a short Show Business Career on the stage in Broadway And Hollywood doing silent films. But what most people have learned about Womens Baseball is that the first professional leagues developed in World War ii, the all american girls professional baseball league, it was established as a way to entertain the homefront during the war and to provide professional baseball while most of the men were away. Here we have the original jersey that gurgson wore. She led the league in steals. That was difficult to achieve because she was having to slide in such a short uniform. Some of the sleeves here show some of the Wear And Tear over the years. But she wound up stealing 461 bases of her tenyear career. Then we also shed some light on girls breaking into little league. A number of lawsuits were filed in the early 1970s, and so its not until 1974 that girls were able to join little league teams. And then when you take that to its furthest degree, here we have Monet Davis on the cover of sports illustrated after she threw a winning game in World Series for a sport in little league. So black ball players finally had a shot in the major leagues in 1947. The first one to break the line is Jackie Robinson. And the library is very fortunate to have the Branch Rookie papers and the Jackie Robinson collection, and that is where we were able to draw a couple of items including this letter from jackie in 1950 written to Branch Rickie who is leaving the dodgers. And robinson is writing to let him know just how grateful he is for the breaks that Branch Rookie gave him in signing him to the dodgers, letting him know that he was a trusted friend and that he hopes that rickey will think of him as a friend in return. And its a very heartfelt letter thanking him for everything that he had done for himself and for his family. So what we have here is the original first page of Jackie Robinsons letter. And on the back was a reproduction. In order to preserve this letter and keep it from being affected by the lights and kind of the Wear And Tear of being on exhibition, well eventually swap these out. And what well have on display then will be the original Sig Sigture of jackie later on in the exhibitions run. What weve seen here so far today is only about half of the exhibit, so theres a lot more to see. So if youre in washington, d. C. Please come to the library of congress and check out the exhibition. You can watch this or other american artifacts programs at any time by visiting our website, cspan. Org history. Weekends on cspan 2 oran intellectual feast. Every saturday american History Tv documents americas story. And on Sundays Book Tv brings you the latest in nonfiction books and authors. Funding for cspan 2 comes from these television companies and more including buckeye broadband. Buckeye broadband along with these television companies supports cspan 2 as a public service. Each week american artifacts takes viewers into archives, museums and historic sites around the country. Next we visit the Baseball Americana Exhibit at the library of congress in washington, d. C. To learn about the origins of the modern game including the birth of several baseball traditions, the impact of immigrants and the increasing importance of statistics. Welcome to