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Police Gazette Sports Clippings Scrapbook

 Collection
Identifier: MSSP 2005

Scope and Contents

When acquired by the University, the clippings in this collection were tipped in to a large (about 40 cm.) scrapbook of some 245 leaves. Because of its bulk and poor condition the book was subsequently disbound; its constituent leaves were separated, mended as necessary, numbered, and rehoused in folders (Hesburgh Libraries Conservation Treatment Report 4475-4170). Neither the original creator of the scrapbook nor the date of its creation is known. The collection includes around 1300 individual clippings, all of which appear to derive from one of three American illustrated weeklies of the late nineteenth century: The National Police Gazette of New York; The Illustrated Police News of Boston; and The New York Illustrated News. Each of these titles is certainly well represented (though many or most of the clippings cannot be attributed to a specific periodical out of hand). All the clippings pertain to sports, especially boxing (which was a familiar subject of the Police Gazette and its imitators). There is also material on wrestling, physical culture/weightlifting, baseball, rowing, and other sports favored by the male, urban, working-class readership of these publications. The great majority of the clippings are illustrations; most are the wood or steel engravings for which the weeklies are best remembered, but some are photographic halftones (a technology these publications began to employ in the 1890s). The greater number of the illustrations are portraits of athletes and other "sporting men," though there are also engraved scenes of competitions, collages of images relating to a specific event, and other formats. Some of the portraits occupy a full page, and there occasional two-page spreads as well. Almost all the clippings appear to date from the years 1883 to 1896. There are four images in color: a two-page color lithograph of James J. Corbett and Robert Fitzsimmons, published as a supplement to the Police Gazette on 15 December 1894 (folder 24); an 1892 New York Illustrated News two-page color supplement of Corbett and John L. Sullivan (folder 38); an 1894 Police Gazette two-page color lithographic supplement of Corbett and Peter Jackson (folder 40); and an 1887 two-page hand-colored engraved supplement to the Police Gazette of Jake Kilrain and Jem Smith (folder 47).

Dates

  • Creation: circa 1883 - circa 1920
  • Creation: Majority of material found within ( ca. 1883-ca. 1896)

Conditions Governing Access

There are no access restrictions on this collection

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright status for collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Extent

81 folders (6 flat storage containers; 3 linear feet)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

A large disbound scrapbook of sports-related clippings, mostly pictorial, from The National Police Gazette, The Illustrated Police News, and The New York Illustrated News. Much of the material consists of engraved portraits of boxers of the 1880s and 1890s.

Arrangement

The leaves are sequenced in the order in which they appeared in the original scrapbook. The book's compiler did not organize his material in chronological order, but by sport. Material on boxing, seemingly randomly arranged, occupies leaves 1 to 174, followed by wrestling, baseball, and a miscellany of other sports.

Title
Police Gazette Sports Clippings Scrapbook
Status
Completed
Author
Kathryn Ossing
Date
September 2013
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the University of Notre Dame Rare Books & Special Collections Repository

Contact:
102 Hesburgh Library
Notre Dame IN 46556
574-631-0290