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JAMES NAISMITH TWICE SIGNED ENVELOPE POSTMARKED JULY 19th, 1936
An envelope addressed and signed twice by James Naismith, the inventor of basketball. Some significant notes about this piece:
His signature is featured twice by the way in which he referred to the recipient (Mrs. James Naismith) c/o his son, James Sherman Naismith.
The envelope is postmarked from Glasgow, Scotland. Examples of Scottish letters from the 1930s confirm the same postmark. Although born in Canada, James Naismith had strong Scottish roots, with both his father and mother being born in Glasgow. Dr. Ross Walker, a researcher from the University of Scotland, has studied Naismith's history and found that Naismith considered himself Scottish, and as a child he lived in a Canadian Scottish community and spoke with a Scottish accent well into his adulthood. According to his research, Naismith was introduced to a game called duck-on-the-rock by his Scottish family, a game his father learned on the streets of Glasgow, and Naismith later said he used that game as the basis for the sport we all know as basketball. Perhaps he was visiting extended family members in Glasgow when he mailed this very letter.
Naismith was in Europe at this time because he was traveling to the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany. The games were to begin just 10 days after this letter was postmarked. This would be the first Olympics to feature basketball as an event. I can only imagine the pride and joy he must have felt to witness the game he invented 45 years earlier being recognized and played on the world's most prestigious athletic stage. He personally awarded the medals, with the gold going to America, on August 14th, 1936 after defeating Canada in the final.
His wife (at the time) was Maude Evelyn Sherman, who was featured in my original photograph of the couple shooting the ball into a peach basket that James was holding. She died tragically in March of 1937, less than a year after this letter was written. From all accounts I can find, Maude traveled with Naismith and attended the Olympic games with him. It leaves the question as to who was the recipient, as it seems it was addressed to her, although she would of most likely been with him at this time. My guess is that this was actually addressed to his daughter-in-law, the wife of his youngest son, James Sherman Naismith.
The back of the envelope has a return address of 1708 Mississippi St in Lawrence, KS, which is that of a residence a few blocks away from the University of Kansas, where Naismith was employed. I assume this was his residence while he was working at KU.
Measurements of envelope: 5.25” x 4.25”
1936
