Smithsonian Libraries

Playing Tennis in 1885

D. W. Granbery & Co., New York, NY.  Lawn Tennis Catalogue and Directions for Playing, 1885, page 8, Shepard's Patent Tennis Case, open view.

Summer might be over. There might not be many more warm days left. But how about looking through this D. W. Granbery & Co. catalog, Lawn Tennis Catalogue and Directions for Playing? The images of tennis equipment might make you think of warmer days ...

Shepard's Patent Tennis Case looks like it was a great way for tennis players in 1885 to transport their tennis equipment. Advertised as, "one of the most useful and necessary articles ever manufactured for Tennis players," it was made of leather and large enough to hold a tennis outfit, tennis balls, and as many as four tennis rackets, but it was also lightweight. The case included a stationary racket press.  Shepard's Patent Tennis Case was priced at $9.

D. W. Granbery & Co. also sold other tennis equipment—rackets, balls, nets, poles, presses, and shoes. The company sold both low and high top tennis shoes.  A pair of alligator trimmed low tennis shoes cost $5 while all alligator low tennis shoes cost $6. High top tennis shoes were priced at $5.50.

As suggested by its title, the catalog includes directions for how to play tennis. The instructions are for two player games and three or four player games. A score card along with diagrams and dimensions of the tennis courts are also included.

Lawn Tennis Catalogue and Directions for Playing, an 1885 trade catalog by D. W. Granbery & Co., is located in the Trade Literature Collection at the National Museum of American History Library. Take a look at the Galaxy of Images to find more images from this catalog and others in the Trade Literature Collection.—Alexia MacClain

 

Those Exhilarating Roller Skates

Joseph W. Wayne, Cincinnati, OH.  Plimpton's Patent Roller Skates, circa 1879, Plimpton's Patent Roller Skates.

To celebrate National Roller Skating Week, we are featuring trade literature advertising Plimpton's Patent Roller Skates.

Patented on January 6, 1863 and June 26, 1866, Plimpton's Patent Roller Skates were advertised as "the only one upon which all the graceful movements and evolutions of Ice Skating can be executed with ease and precision on a Smooth Floor."

Because Plimpton's Patent Roller Skates provided the rink customer with exercise that was "so exhilarating ... amusement so fascinating ... " rink owners could also be pleased with their investment in the skates.  Plimpton's Patent Roller Skates were priced at $4 per pair when bought in groups of 25 pairs or more, and according to this trade literature, by charging a price for the rental of the skates at the rink, the cost of buying the skates "will generally be returned within the first month."

Rink owners were more than satisfied with the use of Plimpton's Patent Roller Skates. A letter dated November 6, 1870 written by J. S. Elliot & Co. in Hopkinsville, Kentucky reads, "Our Rink is a complete success.  Has succeeded beyond our expectations."  On January 23, 1869, the Indianapolis Rink Association President, E. S. Alvord, writes, "We will state that at this place it has proved a success and a good pecuniary investment." He goes on to say, "The patrons of the Rink very generally prefer the Rollers to Ice Skating, and we have no doubt it will pay the stockholders a larger dividend, and give greater satisfaction to its patrons."

Plimpton's Patent Roller Skates, trade literature by Joseph W. Wayne of Cincinnati, Ohio, is located in the Trade Literature Collection at the National Museum of American History Library.  For more images of trade literature in the Libraries' collection, check out the Galaxy of Images. —Alexia MacClain

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May is National Bike Month

The Libraries' trade literature collection has many fantastic examples of catalogs that give a glimpse into how advertising has shaped this country, including these two bicycle catalogs, one which is over 100 years old.

Kenwood Bicycle Mfg. Co., Catalogue for 1895, 1895

Pope Manufacturing Company, Columbia Bicycles, 1912

—Elizabeth Periale