“Fishing from Heaven” -the history of Tenkara

Traditional Japanese Fly Fishing Tenkara, or “Fishing from Heaving,” is an artform unlike our western style of fly fishing, but a utilitarian and purposeful technique of fishing that arose out of a need to acquire food in fast moving volcanic mountain streams in Japan. The origins of tenkara are unknown as many tenkara anglers were unable […]

Chuck, Charlie, and Charles Rumph

A Look Inside The Charles Rumph Digital Archive and Women and Horses Exhibit by Porter Gaier, Shirley Z. Johnson Digitization Intern Inspiring. That is, at least, one way to describe Charles Rumph’s work, and another word to describe his life. Chuck, Charlie, Charles, whomever you knew him as, was an exuberant and cheerful man who excelled […]

Enframed: My Internship with the NSLM

My days started here at the National Sporting Library & Museum behind the front desk. While my collections management internship officially started in November, it actually feels as though it started in August, when I first started working here as a Visitor Services Associate. From the get-go, I was encouraged to ask as many questions as I could and the senior staff were incredibly receptive and generous in answering them. They were eager to share with […]

Mr. Brown, it was nice to make your acquaintance.

Spring 2019 feels like a lifetime ago, but it was in March of last year that I started a collections management project at NSLM as part of my graduate museum & gallery studies program requirements for the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Lauren Kraut, NSLM’s Sr. Collections Manager & Registrar asked me to organize […]

And the diagnosis is…

The inspiration for my blog post this week stems from the unfortunate fact that for the past few months, my horse Taco has been experiencing a plethora of medical issues. No matter what I do, I cannot seem to keep him sound. As soon as I solve one problem, another one pops up. It has […]

How to Run a Race During Global Disruptions

Over the course of the past few months, the pandemic has greatly altered almost every facet of our lives. From small changes in daily behavior to huge shifts in the nature of the workplace and school, few things have been left untouched – including events in the equestrian world. As part of my internship at […]

A Lifetime of Drawing: Paul Brown and the Searles Collection

As a Visitor Services Associate at the National Sporting Library & Museum, I often talk to guests about two artworks: an oil, Over the Brush Fence, 1930 and a watercolor, Portrait of a ‘Chaser, 1935. Both were painted by Paul Brown (American, 1893-1958). Visitors enjoy reminiscing about Paul Brown drawings, prints, and illustrations that they […]

What’s a zoetrope?

Before Eadweard Muybridge (English, 1830–1904) began systematically studying animal locomotion with his camera in 1877, understanding of how horses and other animals moved at faster gaits was tenuous at best. The series of photographs Muybridge produced allowed sporting artists to more accurately portray their subjects. Muybridge also explored ways to portray motion by combining photographs […]

Intern Highlight: Cynthia Kurtz

As a student in George Washington University’s Museum Studies program, I am required to complete a 260-hr internship at a museum as part of my curriculum. Given my passion for horses and dogs and the ways they serve us, the National Sporting Library & Museum was the perfect opportunity for me to combine my interests […]

Cuthbert Bradley Watercolors: Unframed

When we visit a museum and admire the great works hanging there, it is easy to imagine the masterful artists sitting down and creating each piece in one swift movement, merely putting brush to canvas and bringing to life yet another masterpiece. In actuality, the process of creating art is a long and arduous one, […]