Hotaling Donates Historic Newspapers to Racing Museum

Edward Hotaling, author of The Great Black Jockeys and They're Off! Horse Racing at Saratoga, has donated six newspapers from May 1847 to May 1878 to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. The Edward Hotaling Collection, instituted late in 1999, is one of the most significant additions to the museum's archival collections in recent years.

The donation includes editions of the Spirit of the Times, New York Daily Tribune, New York Times, The People's Journal, The World, and Harper's Weekly. One article from the Spirit of Times, dated May 22, 1847, includes plans to build a track in conjunction with the New York State Fair in Saratoga Springs, NY. Articles in the New York Daily Tribune and New York Times from August 4, 1863, give reports of the first day of Thoroughbred racing at Saratoga Race Course. Other articles covered in the newspapers include accounts of the tenth Saratoga Stakes, ninth Saratoga Cup, an obituary of John Morrissey, and numerous Civil War reports including items concerning the Union victories at Vicksburg and Gettysburg, and the siege of Charleston.

Hotaling is working on a book about African-American jockey Jimmy Winkfield, scheduled to be published by McGraw-Hill later this year.

The Edward Hotaling Collection contains early newspapers, prints, photographs, and extensive research files. Along with over one hundred other archival collections, it is available to researchers in the museum's John A. Morris Library. For an appointment, call (518) 584-0400 or 1-800-JOCKEY4, extension 122.