Racing's Greatest and America's Oldest: Selections from the Tony Leonard Collection, McBean Gallery.

On display from July 21, 2017 through February 3, 2019. 

Through the lens of his camera, Tony Leonard (1922-2012) documented the world of Thoroughbred racing for five decades.  Starting in the 1960s in the Bluegrass State of Kentucky, he turned a hobby into a celebrated career by capturing the beauty of the sport and its multitude of personalities — both human and equine — including all three Triple Crown champions of the 1970s.

The National Museum of Racing is honored to showcase a small sample in our special exhibition, Racing's Greatest and America's Oldest: Selections from the Tony Leonard Collection, which focuses on portraits of Hall of Fame members and iconic scenes of America's oldest operating racetrack, historic Saratoga Race Course.

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame has partnered with the Sherman Grinberg Film Library to share digitized newsreel footage related to the history of Thoroughbred racing with the public. The Sherman Grinberg Film Library, located in Los Angeles, California, is one of the world’s oldest and largest privately held film archives, serving Hollywood and the world film community for more than 75 years. 

The Film Library has more than 20 million feet of historic newsreel footage with content dating mostly from 1895 to 1957. The archive includes the historic Paramount Newsreels, first called Eyes of the World (silent era) and later Eyes and Ears of the World (the “talkies”). It also includes the American Pathé newsreel library, one of the oldest newsreel collections going back to 1897, the Industry on Parade series, Allied Artist Scenic stock footage, and over 3,500 mid-century television and movie theater commercials. 

To date, the Sherman Grinberg Film Library has shared 200 videos with the Museum relating primarily to Hall of Fame members. These videos include the 1942 Preakness won by Alsab, 1940 Belmont Stakes won by Bimelech, 1936 Belmont won by Granville, 1929 Kentucky Derby won by jockey Linus McAtee, 1949 Kentucky Derby won by jockey Steve Brooks, among many others. The Museum will be able to use these videos in future exhibitions, special events, and social media posts. Additionally, researchers and educators can request access to other film reels in the Museum’s Sherman Grinberg Film Library holdings for educational purposes. 

You can find a full list of the videos the Sherman Grinberg Film Library has shared with the Museum here. To view these videos and find more, please visit shermangrinberg.com.    

The John A. Morris Research Library houses more than 5,000 monographs, serials, and periodicals concerning thoroughbred racing in the United States and abroad. Biographies, racing manuals, and stud books are included in the collection, along with issues from The BloodHorse, Daily Racing Form Chart Books, and Thoroughbred Times, among others. The Library also holds numerous research files and archival materials on artists, horses (particularly Hall of Famers) jockeys, trainers, racetracks, and other people in the horse racing industry. 

Selected topics:

• Thoroughbred racing fine art 
• Catalogs – Museum exhibitions
• Biographies
• History of racing in the United States and Abroad-General
• Histories of racetracks
• Histories of specific races

Selected Library Serials:

• American Racing Manual
• American Steeplechasing
• American Stud Book
• The BloodHorse
• Daily Racing Form Chart Books
• General Stud Book (England)
• Racing Calendar (England)
• Spirit of the Times
• Thoroughbred Record
• Thoroughbred Times

Selected Manuscripts, Scrapbooks, and Records Collections:

• Charles S. Howard family racing scrapbooks (1936 through 1950) 
• Ed Hotaling Collection 
• Kelso Collection

LibraryWorld online catalogue:

The John A. Morris Research Library collection is now online! Beginning in June 2021, the Museum embarked on an intensive project of reorganizing and inventorying our library via LibraryWorld, an online database that allows public access. Seven volunteers and staff members devoted nearly 600 hours of their time to help the Museum reorganize the large front portion of the library and enter 3,514 monographs and serials into the database. This inventory accounts for about two-thirds of our library collection. The Museum plans to continue to inventory the rest of the library this year with the help of our dedicated volunteers.

As we continue to inventory the library, we welcome the public to search through our collection. You can find the link to our library collection database here: NMRHOF Library Catalogue

Visiting the Library:

The research library is located on the second floor of the National Museum of Racing. Access to the library and its holdings are by appointment only. As a specialized research library, materials do not circulate outside of the Museum and must be used within the library only. To schedule an appointment, please contact Collections Manager Annie Davis at (518) 584-0400 ext. 117 or adavis@racingmuseum.net. 

Policies:

1. All researchers must fill out the Researcher Disclaimer Form at the start of their scheduled appointment. 
2. No food or beverage is permitted in the library. 
3. Researchers may only use pencils while taking notes in the library.
4. White gloves, provided by staff, may be required when handling archival materials, photographs, and fragile books.
5. Some objects may not be handled due to condition.
6. Photocopies of certain materials can be made at a fee of $.25 per page. Due to the fragile nature of some of the objects in the collection, library staff reserves the right to deny any photocopy requests based on the condition of the materials. Library staff or volunteers will make the copies.
7. No photographs can be made inside the library without special permission from staff members. Researchers are prohibited from scanning materials within the collection.
8. Only staff members and volunteers are allowed into the back library or open up cases and pull books. When patrons have finished with items, they must leave them on the reading table.
9. Reference questions over phone or emails are answered on a first come, first served basis. A research fee of $20 per hour will be charged for extensive research projects.

Photographs:

The National Museum of Racing houses more than 15,000 photographic images that are separate from the general research collection. All photograph inquiries must be emailed to Collections Manager Annie Davis at (518) 584-0400 ext. 117 or adavis@racingmuseum.net.

A number of images in the photograph collection can be requested for reproduction (see our Media Request page for more information). However, the reproduction rights of numerous photographs in the collection are copyrighted to individuals, institutions, or organizations other than the National Museum of Racing. The researcher must obtain written permission from the holder of the copyright before the Museum can reproduce the image.