CASH DONATIONS:

Donations of cash IN ANY AMOUNT are invited from the general public, sports teams, businesses and corporations. All donors will receive recognition for their support via the Institute's publications or other printed source, such as our web site. For donations of $250 or more, the Board of Directors would like to honor the donor with an engraved brick to be placed on the cafe patios and landscaped walkways that will surround the buildings and wind through the sculpture gardens. Major donations will be honored with engraved plaques of marble, granite or bronze permanently mounted inside or outside the buildings on designated walls of honor in accordance with the wishes of the Board of Directors.

NON-CASH DONATIONS:

The Library and Museum eagerly accept donations of material that are within the scope of its collections. Collectors are encouraged to send us books, monographs, theses & dissertations, magazine and subscription collections for the library, as well as posters, artwork and collectables for the Museum.

LIBRARY donations:

• Material in ANY language, including but not limited to English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portugese, Flemish, Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Norwegian, Latin, Greek, Russian, Ukrainian, Serbo-Croatian, Hebrew, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Farsi, Sanskrit and dozens of others.
  The scope of the collection is international and comprehensive.
  
• Books
• Monographs
• Theses & Dissertations
• Bound and unbound serials (magazines, journals, etc)
• Newspapers (hard copies or microfilm)
• Juvenile literature
• Dictionaries
• Encyclopedias
• Reference books
• Manuscripts
• Archives of organizations
• Original letters of correspondance
• Maps
• Ephemera (pamphlets, booklets, folders, flyers, tickets, etc).
• Miscellaneous items that do not fit into the above categories
  

• Basketball Posters
• Antique Basketball equipment
• Statuary in bronze, resin, plaster, terracotta, etc.
• Paintings, Serigraphs, Drawings, etc.
• Photographs, prints, negatives, glass plates, etc.
• Films, movies, videos, dvd's, especially older films in need of archival preservation
• Music, records, tapes, sheet music
• Graphics - 19th century lithographs & prints
• Basketball-related medals, awards, trophies
• Basketball commemorative medals, participation medals, badges, etc.
• Basketball pins
• Basketball flags, banners, advertising
• Basketball-related memorabilia
• Philatelic items, stamp collections, illustrated postcards on Basketball
• Numismatic items, coins, exonumia with Basketball themes
• Uniforms, clothing, textiles, fashions
• Physical education, recreation and play equipment related to Basketball
• Games, especially antique items

These lists are not comprehensive and are limited only by your imagination! Keep in mind that Basketball is an international sport and that we seek everything -- in every language -- in order to develop the most comprehensive Basketball collection in the world for educational and research purposes.

Basketball was invented in December, 1891 by the Canadian-born educator, Dr. James Naismith. While teaching at the YMCA Training School, now known as Springfield College (Springfield, Massachusettes) he invented the game by combining skills from various games. He used a leather soccer ball and two peach baskets to have his 18 students play indoors without being too rowdy. There was a need for an indoor game in the gymnasium that wouldn't be rough like lacrosse, soccer or football. The game became an instant hit with the students and within three years the game was played in YMCA's worldwide. College students picked up the game quickly. In 1898 Naismith began his career at the University of Kansas, where he coached basketball. His student, Adolph Rupp, later became famous at the University of Kentucky. Amos Alonzo Stagg, at Springfield College with Naismith in 1891, became famous at the University of Chicago for both basketball and football. Basketball was included in the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis and the sport officially became part of the program at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, which Naismith attended and was honored. He died in 1939 in Lawrence, Kansas.

The sport grew into a major American collegiate and professional sport with such athletes as Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan. Basketball became a worldwide phenomenon and today it is played in the Olympic Games where the United States does not necessarily dominate play any longer. International stars such as Russia's Andrei Kirilenko and China's Yao Ming now play professionally in the USA.

An incredibly popular sport -- basketball courts are found in nearly every playground in America, as well as in the backyards of large homes. Hoops are attached to garages wherever a teenager lives and the sound of dribbling basketballs is the constant sound in every urban area of the USA.

Links to other pages of the International Institute for Sport and Olympic History

• Read the Articles of Incorporation here
  

• Read the BYLAWS here
  

• Meet the Board of Directors here
  

  Charter Membership Drive ends December 31, 2008
  

• Become a Charter member or send a donation now
  

• Building Plans
  

• Endowment Program
  

Contact:
International Institute for Sport and Olympic History (IISOH)
PO Box 175
State College, PA, USA 16804

Mr. Harvey Abrams, President
email:

This page was created February 24, 2002
This page was updated September 12, 2007