The Frederick W. Griffith Baseball Papers were donated to the Palmyra Community Library sometime in the 1980s from a home in Pittsford, N.Y. The papers have resided in the library since then, untouched. The papers consist of handwritten and typed documents on notepaper, letterhead and telegrams.
The timeframe of these baseball documents help to form a picture of organized baseball in the United States and New York, specifically, during the late 19th century.
Included in these papers are the names of players, managers, leagues, state and local officials and clubs. The names of players who were bought, sold, traded and drafted are also included. Occasionally, salaries are mentioned. Some players identified went on to baseball’s major league.
Scope of Collection
At this time, only the Frederick W. Griffith Baseball Papers from the Frederick Winter Griffith Papers has been reviewed and documented. This sub collection consists of one letter size manilla folder. Included are 92 separate pieces of correspondence, most consisting of one page documents.
While some correspondence is undated, the remainder of the documents date from 1897-1902.