Sports & Leisure - Overview
The nation's passion for sports is obvious every day—at NASCAR races, kiddie soccer matches, and countless other contests. From a handball used by Abraham Lincoln to Chris Evert's tennis racket to a baseball signed by Jackie Robinson, the roughly 6.000 objects in the Museum's sports collections bear witness to the vital place of sports in the nation's history. Paper sports objects in the collections, such as souvenir programs and baseball cards, number in the hundreds of thousands.
Leisure collections encompass a different range of objects, including camping vehicles and gear, video games, playing cards, sportswear, exercise equipment, and Currier and Ives prints of fishing, hunting, and horseracing. Some 4,000 toys dating from the colonial period to the present are a special strength of the collections.
"Sports & Leisure - Overview" showing 2 items.
Hyatt Celluloid Billiard Ball
- Description
- This billiard ball, a gift of the Celanese Corporation, is made of cellulose nitrate, a substance eventually known as "celluloid." John Wesley Hyatt, a printer, was encouraged to develop the new substance when he saw an ad offering $10,000 to the person who invented a usable substitute for ivory in billiard balls. Though he eventually achieved success with his new material, forming the Celluloid Manufacturing Co. in 1871, it seems he never received the $10,000 award.
- The ball is mounted on a walnut stand and has a silver label stating, "Made in 1868 of Cellulose Nitrate, Celluloid. The Year John Wesley Hyatt Discovered This First Plastics Resin."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1868
- inventor
- Hyatt, John Wesley
- originator
- Hyatt, John Wesley
- ID Number
- CH*334572
- accession number
- 310799
- catalog number
- 334572
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
McClellan's Chess Set
- Description
- Physical Description
- Wooden box covered with black paper. Inscribed on the cover “Geo. B. McClellan.” Paper label on the inside of cover bearing maker's name and address “Schuyler, Hartley & Graham, 19 Maiden Lane, New York.” One white pawn and one black knight are missing.
- Specific History
- Used by George McClellan during the Civil War.
- date made
- 1860
- user
- McClellan, George B.
- maker
- Schuyler, Hartley & Graham
- ID Number
- AF*17501
- catalog number
- 17501
- accession number
- 61384
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center