This initiative provides fans with the opportunity to support specific conservation and preservation projects that the team overseeing our collections and archives has identified as critical needs.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a nonprofit organization that depends on the support and generosity of baseball fans to fulfill our mission to preserve history, honor excellence and connect generations.
Since opening in 1939, our Museum Collection has grown to more than 40,000 three-dimensional artifacts. Additionally, the Archives and Library Collections contain over three million documents, 300,000 photographic materials, 200,000 baseball cards and 16,000 hours of recorded media. Each of these items, documenting both the game on the field and its impact on American culture, are in need of continual care.
Your support is critical to the preservation of these one-of-a-kind treasures and helps ensure a world-class museum experience for generations to come.
We are grateful for all our donors and Museum Members who help us preserve baseball history. We have accomplished a lot together, but there is more to be done.
Here are projects, including artifacts, education programs, photographs, recorded media, Library documents, and exhibit updates that need support.
In memory of my Dad who was a huge Yankees fan, saw the Babe play, and was an avid bowler. We often bowled together and he always pointed out how I could improve, and he'd mail me the bowling box scores from his league play. He would have loved to have seen Babe's bag.
Donor Gerard O.
Here are select artifacts from our collection that are in need of care.
With your support, each of these priceless treasures can be preserved to help fans relive the moments and memories from baseball's past for generations to come.
The students were incredibly excited to know there were African American pioneers in baseball, just like Martin Luther King Jr.
Elizabeth Gerling, Principal, Columbus Elementary School, Utica, NY.
Our educational programs include public events that promote discussion and interaction among generations in the Museum; programs that provide K-12 students and teachers interactive and meaningful learning experiences that align with national learning standards in Cooperstown, online and in their communities; and a robust lineup of virtual programs for diverse audiences.
Ted Williams is my father’s favorite player, and I grew up hearing stories about him. It is an honor to help preserve images of him in honor of my Dad so that my children will also have the opportunity to learn more about this Red Sox legend.
Donor Allison M.
The Dean O. Cochran Jr. Photograph Archives at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum contains photographs of every aspect of the game of baseball. Our collections depicts the broad diversity of people on the field, the places they played, and the action of the game. The 300,000 photographs housed in the Photo Archives document more than 150 years of baseball history; they are a visual record of the game’s place in American culture.
We need your help to continue our work to digitally preserve the Museum's photo collection.
Bob Feller was my first baseball hero. He pitched his first major league game as a teenager before I was born. I began following him well after he returned from the war, in the late 40s/early 50s--as much as any kid from the West Coast could in those days. I also served in the Navy, and did not realize or appreciate the sacrifice Mr. Feller made when he enlisted just after Pearl Harbor. My life-long admiration of him is well justified.
Donor David K.
The Recorded Media Archives contains tens of thousands of hours of moving images and sound recordings in a wide variety of formats that date from a 1908 Edison Cylinder recording of Take Me Out To The Ball Game. The archives includes 78 rpm radio discs, phonograph records, 8 mm home movies, reel-to-reel tapes, films, videotapes, along with compact and digital video discs.
Recorded on these diverse media are interviews and oral histories; radio and television broadcasts; play-by-play and other commentary; feature, documentary and animated films; popular songs and other music; and Hall of Fame events.
Whether purchasing a membership or donating an artifact, your support for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum will keep history alive for years to come.
