Henry Chadwick Archives unveiled at MLB.com’s Baseball Memory Lab
SABR member John Thorn announced on Thursday, April 10, 2014, the creation of the Henry Chadwick Archives, housed at the Baseball Memory Lab on MLB.com.
The archival material on the page represents items of a personal nature from the life of Henry Chadwick (1824-1908). Chadwick wrote prolifically about baseball from its earliest years in the mid 1800s.
Most of his baseball writings were bequeathed to Albert Spalding who gave them as part of his sports collection to the New York Public Library. The remaining poetry, writing and memorabilia were inherited by his wife Jane Botts Chadwick, then his granddaughter, and finally his great-great-granddaughter.
The family sold the material to a private individual in 2002 as a single collection intended for museum display. The collector gave a photocopy of each item to the family and it is these copies which comprise the archive.
To view the Henry Chadwick Archives, visit MLB.com/memorylab/origins/chadwick.jsp.
The Baseball Memory Lab also hosts a list of Early Baseball Milestones, an extensive gathering of early materials documenting the origins of baseball back to 2,500 B.C.E., compiled by SABR Origins Committee members at Protoball.org.
SABR maintains a comprehensive list of Research Resources available to members and the general public. For more information, click here.
Originally published: April 10, 2014. Last Updated: April 10, 2014.