The materials in this collection relate primarily to the life of James Naismith. The collection includes the official records from Naismith’s time at the YMCA Training School, several photographs of Naismith, Naismith’s correspondence with the College’s Alumni Association, and a page from an autograph book that Naismith filled out in 1888. There are three unpublished manuscripts about Naismith written by other people within the collection, including one by Grace Naismith, titled “The Father of Basketball was my Father-in-Law,” one by his friend, R. Tait McKenzie, titled “Reminiscences of James Naismith,” and one by Katherine Holmes Naismith, titled “The Naismith Chronicles: Being Letters by, to, and about Dr. James Naismith, Father of Basketball and other Creations Even More Beguiling – Margey, Honnie, Jack, Maudann and Jim.” The Katherine Holmes manuscript is of particular interest as it contains transcribed letters that may no longer be accessible. Additionally, there are various manuscripts written by Naismith, including “The Origin of Basketball,” from a lecture given in 1932, “An Improved Basis for Judging and Comparing the Physical Development of Children,” published in the University of Kansas Bulletin of Education in 1930, a lecture Naismith delivered in 1894 at the New England Conference of Y.M.C.A Secretaries entitled “Hygenic Work: It’s Place and Value,” and “Fundamentals of Basketball” published in the 1930s.

There are a number of letters written by Dr. James Naismith in the collection. One of the most important is the letter Naismith wrote describing how basketball was invented. The letter was written to Springfield College student Thomas J. Browne in 1898. This is one of the earliest written records of how the game of Basketball was created. Three of the letters in the collection are also transcribed in the manuscript by Katherine Holmes Naismith. This includes two partial letters, including an unsigned letter that was written on November 13, 1918 that outlines his ideas for returning soldiers from World War I to get help buying homes from cities and states and a letter dated Jan 16, 1918 to his daughter Helen. There is a letter from Naismith to his wife, Maude Naismith, dated August 13, 1916. The bulk of the letter talks about his feelings about playing sport, baseball in particular, on Sundays.

There are also materials about Naismith, including articles from newspapers and journals, information about the establishment of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, letters from Forrest C. Allen and Paul Endacott, a nomination for the “Hall of Fame of Great Americans” at NYU, and numerous scrapbook pages filled with newspaper articles, photographs, etc., including copies of scrapbook pages that contain information on early women’s basketball. Finally, there is a commemorative print of Dr. Naismith’s Petition of Membership in the Lawrence Kansas Mason Lodge, ca. 2016. The document has a picture of James Naismith with a basketball and the copy of the petition. It is number 106 of 500.

Finally, there is a folder that contains copies of materials thought to have been created by or at one time in the possession of Dr. James Naismith that are owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. and are online with the Canada Sports Hall of Fame. There is some documentation of what each item in that came with the copies. This is a brief outline of the materials: photographs of a whistle used by Naismith, photograph of the class of 1891, two photograph, circa 1880s-90's that may be clipped from larger photographs, some drawn basketball plays (2 pages), signed Spalding 1926-27 basketball guide, signed High Edition Rules 1932-33 (whole document), two small promotion basketball cards with signed statements, a group of photos taken of Naismith (6), Handwritten pages and notes and data on referees, more handwritten notes on Basketball evolution (maybe mid-‘30s basketball and Olympic tournament), typed documents with handwritten notes on backboard and then copies of basketball tournament, a typed version with handwritten notes of the creation of the game of basketball (may be from his book), hand-written notes on “Styles of Play” and dribbling, typed document with handwritten notes about the Origins of Games going back to the Greeks, Spalding Official Basketball Rules for 1916-1917 (only cover and title pages), and a flyer of a talk given by Dr. James Naismith at the Axtell Amusement Pavilion hand-dated 1920.