(Images taken from a variety of sources via Flickr Commons. Click on each picture for more info and higher res versions).
Winning oarsmen at Waterford Boat Club (1897) – National Library of Ireland
Sioux Indian Football Team (ca.1910) – George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress
Shamrock hockey team, Montreal, QC (1899) – McCord Museum
Eymard Seminary Baseball Team, Suffern, N.Y. – Wittemann Collection, Library of Congress
Palace Rink Team, Detroit (ca.1910) – George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress.
African American baseball team, Danbury, Connecticut (ca.1880) – Gladstone Collection, Library of Congress.
Shamrock Club lacrosse team (1879) – McCord Museum.
Minneapolis Talmud Torah football team (1920) – Steinfeldt Photography Collection of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest.
Irene Kaufmann Settlement, junior basketball team (1929) – American Jewish Historical Society.
Stetson University’s football team (1907) – State LIbrary and Archives of Florida
McGill swimming team, Montreal, QC (1920) – McCord Museum.
Wesleyan Theological Basketball Team, Montreal, QC (1916) – McCord Museum.
Trafalgar Institute basketball team, Montreal, QC (1928) – McCord Museum.
Ladies cricket team, near Weetangera Lane, Canberra: a team composed once a year to play the men, who would use a pick handle (1910) – National Library of Australia.
Dee Why senior Rescue and Resuscitation team, winners of the 1951 Australian Championships (1951) – Australian National Maritime Museum
Portrait of St Mary’s College tennis team, Charters Towers, Queensland (ca.1930) – State LIbrary of Queensland.
Members of the US servicemen’s boxing team (1943) – State Library of Queensland
Local cricket team, Waterford: Second from the left of the seated gentlemen is Sir Richard Musgrave, 5th Baronet of Tourin (1902) – National Library of Ireland.
Hartlepools League Champions for Quoits, a traditional game which involves the throwing of metal, rope or rubber rings over a set distance, usually to land over or near a spike (date unknown) – Hartlepool Cultural Services
African American baseball team from from Morris Brown College, Atlanta, Georgia (ca.1899) – Daniel Murray Collection, Library of Congress.
Aboriginal cricketers with Lawrence and William Shepherd, on tour, Swansea, New South Wales (1868) – Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
Mercury basketball team, Minnesota (1923) – Steinfeldt Photography Collection of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest.
Expansion Ladies Football Team, 1918 – Museum of Hartlepool.
Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight Attendant Basketball Team, The Jets (date unknown) – San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
United States Military Academy (West Point) football team (1913) – George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress.
Hartlepool Y.M.C.A. Billiards Team (1920) – Hartlepool Cultural Services.
Sign up to get our free fortnightly newsletter which shall deliver direct to your inbox the latest brand new article and a digest of the most recent collection items. Simply add your details to the form below and click the link you receive via email to confirm your subscription!