Additional digitized images like this one have been recently added to the online Arkley Croquet Collection. Image: UBC Library Digital Collections.
Croquet fans can rejoice now that the Arkley Croquet Image collection has been made available online. Hundreds of paintings, illustrations, photographs and postcards dating from the 1850’s to the 1950’s are now easily accessible via the Web. More than 1,400 items in the collection have been digitized thus far, with a second phase of digitization planned for early 2014.
The images show a rise in the popularity of croquet and offer a glimpse into one of the first recreational sports that men and women played together.
The collection was donated by Tremaine Arkley, a former U.S. National Croquet Team member and avid croquet fan. Funding from Tremaine and Gail Arkley provided the necessary support to digitize the majority of the collection. The remaining 300 items will be digitized, completing the project in 2014. The Arkley family also donated a substantial children’s literature collection to UBC Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections.
Visit digitalcollections.library.ubc.ca to start exploring.
This story originally appeared in the 2013 Friends newsletter.