Baseball Database Goes Live

Introducing a new Russell Library Database of Vintage Baseball Cards from the Collection of Senator Richard B. Russell. Among the largest private collections of turn-of-the-century tobacco cards held by a public institution in the United States, Senator Richard B. Russell's boyhood baseball card collection is one of the hidden treasures of the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies at the University of Georgia.

The Russell collection contains over one thousand baseball cards produced by the American Tobacco Company between the years 1909-1911. The tobacco cards in the Russell collection offer a rare, private glimpse into the lifelong passions of a very public figure. Library staff discovered these keepsakes neatly stacked in cigar boxes and stored on a top shelf in the senator's bedroom closet. His estate executors decided to include them as part of his larger research collection at the Russell Library and to offer the public an opportunity to enjoy these delightful objects as well.

The development of this site was a collaborative effort among present and former staff members of the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, the Digital Library of Georgia, and the University of Georgia Libraries Systems department. Baseball scholar, Albert Kilchesty curated the original Legends of the Dead-ball Era exhibition of Senator Russell’s baseball cards, and served as a consultant throughout the development of this database.

To explore Russell Library’s new baseball card database, please go to
http://baseballcards.galib.uga.edu/

Post by Abby Griner, Access and Electronic Records Archivist, Russell Library