1781.2

"Antient" Harvard Custom: Freshmen Furnish the Bats, Balls

Salience	Prominent
Tags	College, Harvard CollegeCollege, Harvard College
Location
City/State/Country:	Cambridge, MA, United States
Modern Address
Game
Immediacy of Report
Age of Players	YouthYouth
Holiday
Notables
Text	"The Freshmen shall furnish Batts, Balls, and Foot-balls, for the use of the students, to be kept at the Buttery." Rule 16, "President, Professors, and Tutor's Book," volume IV. The list of rules is headed "The antient Customs of Harvard College, established by the Government of it." Conveyed to David Block, April 18, 2005, by Professor Harry R. Lewis, Harvard University, Cambridge MA. Dr. Lewis adds, "The buttery was a sort of supply room, not just for butter. Who is to say what the "Batts" and "Balls" were to be used for, but it is interesting that any bat and ball game could already have been regarded as ancient at Harvard in 1781."
Sources
Warning
Comment	Dr. Lewis has written a essay on early ballplaying at Harvard College; see Harry Lewis, "Protoball at Harvard: from Pastime to Contest," Base Ball Journal (Special Origins Issue), Volume 5, number 1 (Spring 2011), pages 41-45. Edit with form to add a comment
Query	Edit with form to add a query
Source Image	[[Image:\|left\|thumb]]
External Number
Submitted by	Harry R. Lewis
Submission Note	4/19/2005 letter to David Block
Has Supplemental Text

Comments