Preserving, sharing and promoting the literature, art and culture of equestrian and field sports.


The National Sporting Library and Museum provides programs and special events, many of which are free and open to the public.


 

 

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National Sporting Library & Museum

Museum Hours: Wednesday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday noon to 4 p.m.

Library Hours: Tuesday-Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday 1 p.m. to 4 p.m  

The NSLM is closed on federal holidays.
In the case of bad weather, the NSLM follows Loudoun County
school district decisions. 

102 The Plains Road
Middleburg, Virginia 20118-1335
Telephone: (540) 687-6542
Fax: (540) 687-8540
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Current Exhibit

  • Sir Alfred Munnings in Print: Unpublished Letters and Drawings

    April 21- August 1, 2013
    This exhibition shows the three volume Autobography Presentation Set with thirteen original drawings by Munnings auctioned off at Christie’s in London on December 19, 1952. The set was purchased on behalf of William Coxe Wright and his wife, Charlotte Dorrance Wright, Philadelphia, major art collectors and patrons of Munnings. Also on display is unpublished correspondence from Alfred and Violet Munnings to William and Charlotte Coxe Wright from 1951 – 1955. Both the Presentation Set and the Correspondence Collection are the gift of John H. and Martha Daniels to the National Sporting Library & Museum. Selected letters provide insight into Munnings’ personality, opinions and social verve which biographer Jean Goodman describes as eccentric, contradictory and rumbustious.*

    What a Go!: The Life of Alfred Munnings, Jean Goodman, London: Collins, 1988.

     

Previous Exhibitions

  • Intersection: Field Sports and the Evolution of Conservation

     

    August 30, 2012 – March 1, 2013
    The exhibit looks at books in the National Sporting Library and Museum collection that are about early gamekeeping and poaching laws, the emergence of the hunter-naturalist, and the development of early conservation laws by sportsmen. The octavo first editions of John James Audubon’s Birds of America and The Quadrupeds of North America are highlighted, as are several editions of Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler. Paintings, sculptures, and prints from the 19th century enrich the exhibit. In addition, there are books, sketches, and paintings by three contemporary artists who have continued in the tradition of Walton and Audubon by conversing about and recording wildlife.

  • "Shooting Flying" in Literature and Art

    March 16, 2012 - June 30, 2012
    The exhibit introduces visitors to the range of literature on shooting in the Library’s collection. Books from the 18th century, including the earliest work on American shooting, and contemporary publications are on display. Works of art from the NSLM collection and from private lenders enrich the exhibit. Of special interest is an emphasis on the 20th century American sporting print. Nineteenth century ephemera provide an opportunity to view early shotguns and decoys.

  • In the Blacksmith Shop

    August 15, 2011 - December 30, 2011
    Three prints depicting blacksmiths at work from the 18th and 19th centuries were the inspiration for the exhibit In the Blacksmith Shop at the National Sporting Library and Museum’s Forrest E. Mars, Sr. Exhibit Hall. Rare books, horse shoes of different equine occupations, and historic tools told the story of the farrier (blacksmith) at work. Of special interest were shoes worn by famous horses including the 2011 Kentucky Derby winner, Animal Kingdom.

  • Horses at Work and Play

    March 1, 2011-June 30, 2011 Horses at Work and Play highlighted literature and art from the NSLM holdings and featured antique toys from the renowned Athelstan and Kathleen Spilhaus collection of mechanical toys. Visitors were encouraged to explore the relationship between work and play in the lives of animals and humans.

  • Lives of Dogs Viewed Through Literature, Art and Ephemera

    May 27, 2010 - December 11, 2010 Books and objects, including antique dog collars, that spanned four centuries were selected from the Library’s holdings as well as those of private collectors.  Lives of Dogs provided a glimpse into the richly complex topic of the relationship between dogs and humans.
     Drake, a Water Spaniel, the Property of Lord Charles Kerr, c. 1814, published in Dog Prints, 1835, author/editor unknown. Read more. Read guide.

  • F. Ambrose Clark Rare Book Room Afternoon Delights

    February 1, 2010 - May 1, 2010 Afternoon Delights featured a selection of books and ephemera from the rare book room that tended toward lighthearted leisurely pursuits. The Inaugural Llangollen Race, 1931, a sketchbook of 15 illustrations by Paul Brown recording a historic day in American steeplechase racing was featured. 
     Illustration by Gordon Ross (1873-1946) published in Gay's Rural Sports, 1930, "The Birth of the Squire" Read More. 

  • The Story of Harness Racing by Currier & Ives

    March 13, 2009 - July 3, 2009 A collection of rare, original Currier & Ives lithographs was on loan from The Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame, located in Goshen, N.Y., a colonial village known as "The Cradle of the Trotter," the birthplace of trotting.
    Color lithograph after James Henry Wright (American, 1813-1883), Rysdyk’s Hambletonian, 1876. 25 x 33 inches. Published by Currier and Ives (1857-1907). Courtesy of The Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame, Goshen, N.Y. 

  • The Voss Family, Artists of American Sporting Life

    August 29, 2008 - February 28, 2009 Organized by the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. and curated by Ms. Gregory R. Weidman, the exhibition at the NSL featured more than sixty works of art by this prolific family of sporting artists who depicted the champions of the American turf and other sporting subjects.

    Franklin B. Voss (American, 1880-1953)
    Man o' War (with jockey Johnny Loftus up),1919. Oil on canvas, 28 x 36 inches. Courtesy of the
    National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
    The Elkridge-Harford Hunt Crossing Atlanta Hall Meadow,Oil on canvas, 30 bx 40 inches. Signed F.B. Voss, dated 1942. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Voss.

  • Pierre-Jules Mêne

    Sporting Bronzes from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
    June 6 - August 23, 2008 This exhibition of bronzes by the nineteenth-century French sculptor depicted the equestrian and hunting subjects at which Mêne excelled, including images of horses and jockeys, foxes, deer, and a variety of breeds of hunting dogs.
    Spanish Grayhound Courtesy of Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond.  Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. Photo: Travis Fullerton © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
     

  • Highlights from the Art Collection of the National Sporting Library

    April - August 2008 A selection of paintings, sculpture, and works on paper from the NSL collection were exhibited. Works encompassed a number of equestrian and sporting subjects including flat and steeplechase racing, foxhunting, and cockfighting. Artists represented in the exhibition include Henry Thomas Alken, Jean Bowman, John Emms, Herbert Haseltine, Ben Marshall, John Skeaping, Henry Stull, and Edward Troye.
    Edward Troye (American, 1808-1874), American Eclipse. Oil on canvas, ca. 1834. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. George L. Ohrstrom, Jr.
    Herbert Haseltine (American, 1877-1962), The Thoroughbred Horse (The Perfect Thoroughbred), 1949, Gift of Edward E. Tuck.

  • Faces at the Races

    December 6, 2007- May 10, 2008 Faces at the Races was an exhibition of 35 portraits by Virginia photographer Glen McClure that spotlights owners, riders, trainers, participants, and supporters from such horse events as the Middleburg Spring Horse Show, The Montpelier Point-to-Point, and The Upperville Colt and Horse Show.
    McClure’s photo of steeplechase jockey Richard Boucher.

  • White House Horses

    May 11, 2007 - October 5, 2007

  • Reflections on a Life with Horses: Paintings by Sir Alfred Munnings from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art

    April 20, 2007 - March 29, 2008 An exhibition of 16 Munnings' oil paintings lent by the Yale Center for British Art and on display at the National Sporting Library paid tribute to philanthropist Paul Mellon on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth. Munnings' masterful dexterity with brush and paint conveys the depth of his feeling for horses -- one that parallels the passion that Mellon himself felt for both horses and art.