The National Sporting Library and Museum houses collections that can be used by researchers and visitors. The collections include many well-loved books that may be rare, antiquarian, or just pretty unique! Some of these books need a little bit of extra help to keep them in good, usable repair so they can continue to spread their written knowledge with future generations of enthusiasts.
As the NSLM website states: The Book Adoption Program allows the NSLM to save some fantastic treasures in need of care before going back into our Rare Books Room. After repairs are completed, a special plate commemorating the adopter will be added to the book. Participation in the program is a special way to support NSLM and to honor friends, family, or bibliophiles in your life. Books can be purchased in the name of another person. NSLM Librarian’s will contact each buyer about the name for the commemoration plate. Each purchase includes a presentation card that may be given to a recipient describing the gift that has been made in their name.
The books in the collection includes topics focusing on equestrian, angling, and field sports. Some equestrian titles of note include: The Hoghunters’ Annual, Comparative View of the Form and Character of the English Racer and Saddle-Horse during the Last and Present Centuries, and Idle Hour Stock Farm Company, Incorporates; Catalogue of Blood Stock Holdings.
A full list of titles and adoption fees can be found through this link
The next NSLM online event takes place on Thursday, July 9. Tune in for a talk on Riding and Music in the Renaissance by Robert Eisenstein. Registration details can be found here: http://www.nationalsporting.org/nslm/event_details/1038/
Baldessare Castiglioni, who published the famous Book of the Courtier in 1528, spoke of sprezzatura and the importance of arts over martial skill as the most valuable asset of a courtier. In the Renaissance courts, music was the highly prized and riding masters were teaching skills derived from military equestrian maneuvers to become what would be our modern dressage. What fascinates Eisenstein is that the language used to describe the correct forms of riding and music were exactly the same. Through reading sixteenth century descriptions of both arts, examining the illustrations in riding manuals, and hearing music from that time, we can find connection between riding and music.
Henry II (1519–1559), King of France. Workshop of François Clouet (French, Tours (?), active by 1536–died 1572 Paris). Metropolitan Museum of Art
Robert Eisenstein is a founding member and program director of the Folger Consort, early music ensemble in residence at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., since 1977. The Consort performs over thirty concerts each season at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington National Cathedral and other venues. Recent projects include a program featuring dramatic readings from Merchant of Venice with actors including Sir Derek Jacobi, Richard Clifford and Samantha Bond with music by the Mantuan Jewish contemporary of Shakespeare, Salamone Rossi, and the Bassano family, also likely Jewish, with branches in London and Venice. In addition to the US performances the program was presented with the Gabrieli Consort and Folger Consort at the Wanamaker Theatre of Shakespeare’s Globe in London. The Consort opened the Folger’s Wonder of Will year commemorating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death with a collaboration with the English vocal ensemble Stile Antico, performed in Washington and New York. In September 2019 Mr. Eisenstein served as music director for a production in the Folger Theater of Davenant’s Restoration version of Macbeth. The Folger Consort’s latest recordings are A New World Christmas (2014) and A New Song (2011). Mr. Eisenstein delivers public lectures at the Folger related to each Consort program, and frequently participates in conferences and workshops at the Folger Library.
In addition to his work with the Consort, he is the director of the Five College Early Music Program in western Massachusetts, where he teaches music history, performs regularly on viola da gamba, violin, and medieval fiddle, and coordinates and directs student performances of medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music. He is a recent recipient of Early Music America’s Thomas Binkley Award for outstanding achievement in performance and scholarship by the director of a college early music ensemble.
Recent performances with his viol quartet/quintet, Arcadia Viols, the Folger Consort and other ensembles include appearances at the Boston Early Music Festival fringe concerts, the Stratford, Ontario Shakespeare Festival, Napa Shakespeare Festival, the Seattle Medieval Women’s Choir and the Chautauqua Festival.
Mr. Eisenstein attended Antioch College as an undergraduate, where he met and began working with his future Folger Consort colleagues. He completed the MFA in Historical Performance at Sarah Lawrence college where he studied musicology and viola da gamba with Richard Taruskin. He and his wife own four horses and enjoy riding in the woods around their home. Although he doubts he will make it to the Olympics he also enjoys working on dressage.
The last few centuries have seen radical changes in the training of horses. William Cavendish is credited with the invention of “draw reins” in the 17th century, and more the next two centuries inventions and innovations of equine management became more common. From works on “farriery” to the rise of the “horse whisperer”, the methods of these classic trainers are familiar and still in use today, but the central tenants of these systems are likely to astonish modern equestrians. Virtually join Boniface as she examines these methods in light of the repeated claims that they are “more humane” than previous methods, giving us insight into the changing views on animal existence.
To get the link for the Zoom virtual program, register here.
Free for NSLM Members | $5 for non-members
Once your registration is complete the NSLM will email you the program link within 48 hours.
Katrin Boniface is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California and a 2019 NSLM John H. Daniels Fellow studying early modern horses and horsemanship. Her dissertation addresses pre-modern definitions of breed and methods of produces horses. She earned her M.A. in Medieval History from California State University, Fresno in 2015 and B.A. in History and English from Stony Brook University, in New York, in 2013. Prior to returning to academics, she earned a trade degree in horse training from Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre and remains involved in the equine industry. Research areas include medieval and early modern equine nutrition, changing definitions of “humane” treatment in animal training, and genetic history. She is also the the past President and one of the founding members of the Equine History Collective.
The National Sporting Library & Museum (NSLM) in Middleberg, VA is now accepting applications for its John H. Daniels Fellowship program to promote awareness of, and innovative, scholarly use of the institution’s unique collections focused on equestrian and field sports. Funds are awarded in honor of the legacy of sportsman and book collector John H. Daniels.
The ideal applicants are researchers who wish to use the NSLM’s collections in support of original scholarship and who have plans for publication. Eligible applicants include university faculty, graduate students, museum professionals, librarians, independent researchers, and writers. Fellowships are awarded for two months or less. The maximum stipend award is $2000 per month.
The deadline for summer research travel grants at Michigan State University Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives, has been extended to 7 February 2020. As the EHC has reported before, MSU has an extensive collection on the history of veterinary medicine, including many rare books related to equine studies. The collection includes over 1,400 manuscripts and books, dating as far back as the fifteenth century, making it one of the largest collections of its kind in the United States. See also our previous post announcing their 2019 fellowships.
The University Libraries will be awarding five grants of $3,000 each, and applications from equine history scholars are welcome! For more information, visit https://lib.msu.edu/spc/research/travel-grants/.
The International Museum of the Horse and the Chronicle of African Americans in the Horse Industry invites the interested public to a Shareback Session on Thursday, June 13, from 6–7pm in the Lexington Public Library, in Lexington, KY. This free presentation is a follow-up to their History Harvests events held in April and May, which invited people to share their stories and artifacts related to the history of African Americans in the horse industry. At the Shareback Session, organizers will share some of the discoveries, mementos, documents and stories that contributors brought. For more information about the History Harvests, see this blog post.
The goal of the Chronicle of African Americans in the Horse Industry project is to create an online, interactive archive to house and display photos, documents, artifacts, and oral histories of African Americans who have worked, and continue to work in equine industries. Its users will be able to connect the past to the present. It is funded by a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services, and housed at the International Museum of the Horse.
The UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, one of the EHC 2018 sponsors, is hosting a conference on animal images in medieval bestiaries, “Beastly Imagery in the Medieval World”, complementing a new exhibit at the Getty Museum Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World at the J. Paul Getty Museum May 14-August 18, 2019).
Beastly Imagery in the Medieval World, CMRS Conference at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (May 19, 2019)
On view at the J. Paul Getty Museum May 14 through August 18, 2019, Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World explores the bestiary and its widespread influence on medieval art and culture. This exhibition features one-third of the world’s surviving Latin illuminated bestiaries and gathers together more than 100 works in a variety of media from institutions across the United States and Europe, including manuscripts, paintings, tapestries, sculpture, and decorative arts from the Middle Ages.
[Dis]Information: American Indians Through the Lens of Roland Reed”
March 30, 2019 – January 5, 2020
Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum
Colorado Springs, CO
“[Dis]information” is a new exhibit that has just opened at the Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum and will run through January 2020. The striking image here is just one of dozens of pictorialist photographs of American Indians taken by Roland Reed in the early twentieth century. Reed saw himself as both an artist and an ethnographer, and his images are strikingly beautiful but deeply problematic as romantic scenes situating American Indians in an imagined past. [Dis]Information includes original artwork and commentary by Gregg Deal, Pyramid Lake Paiute, in addition to contemporary American Indian photographs. Combined with Reed’s photography, the exhibit encourages visitors to examine the role “retrospective photography” plays in shaping our understanding of American Indians, and celebrates the power and beauty of photography while challenging misconceptions and stereotypes of indigenous people.
Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum: “Ignite Your Curiosity. Discover Your
Story.” The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum’s mission is to
build a lasting connection to the Pikes Peak Region by preserving and sharing our cultural history. Admission is free.
The Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) contains multiple collections of interest to equine history researchers, and offers short-term research fellowships for scholars. As Frankfort is conveniently located in central Kentucky, the International Museum of the Horse at the Kentucky Horse Park, Keeneland Library, Ashland (Henry Clay Estate), and other potential places of interest are also accessible. The 2019 funding cycle deadlines are March 1 and October 1. For more information about the fellowship guidelines and how to apply, see https://history.ky.gov/for-researchers/research-fellowships/fellowship-guidelines/.
Collections of interest include, but certainly are not limited to:
Alexander Family Papers/Woodburn Farm
Stephanie M. Lang (Associate Editor, Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, and Coordinator, KHS Research Fellowship Program) informs us that this is one of the largest collections at the KHS, and equine history scholars have found it to be of particular interest; research with this collection has included the development of Thoroughbred bloodlines, Civil War horses, and modern veterinary medicine. The letters with the horse image in the KHS fellowship flyer above are from this collection!
African Americans in the Thoroughbred Industry Oral History Project
From their website: “This series focuses on the experiences of African Americans working in the thoroughbred industry in Kentucky. The majority of interviews focus on backside occupations including hot walkers, exercise riders, and groomers. Other occupations include trainers, clockers, and jockeys. Interviewees discuss employment opportunities for African Americans in the racing industry, individuals they have worked with including owners and trainers, living conditions at the track, how they were trained in various occupations, working on horse farms, family life, race horses they have worked with, and the Kentucky Derby. Most of the interviews were conducted in Louisville with individuals who have worked at Churchill Downs.”
Frank Bradshaw Collection
From their website: Frank Bradshaw “bred, and showed saddlebred horses at many horse shows across America from the 1950s until the 1980s… This collection consists of photographs, both color and black and white, of Frank Bradshaw and his work as a breeder, trainer and shower of saddlebred horses. Several of the photographs are of him and a horse he was showing in a horse show. One of the most famous saddlebred horses he showed was ‘My My.’ The collection also has 0.5 cubic feet of manuscripts that were mainly his business records regarding breeding and training horses on his horse farm. There are also several periodicals relating to horses, horse shows and the saddlebred horse world. Frank Bradshaw and the horses he showed are included in several of these publications. There are also rare books and pamphlets related to horse shows and saddlebred horses.”
Ronald Morgan Postcard Collection
This collection contains about 11,000 Kentucky postcards dating from the late 19th century to the present, and includes a variety of horse postcards.
