Overview
Professional papers of American bicycle racer and stunt performer, Conn Baker.
Dates
- Creation: 1892-1982
- Creation: Majority of material found in 1892-1908
Creator
- Baker, Conn (Person)
Condition Description
There are fragile items found throughout the collection; care must be taken with all folders.
Conditions Governing Access
Open for research.
This collection is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. Retrieval requires advance notice. Readers should check with Houghton Public Services staff for retrieval policies and times.
Extent
.25 linear feet (2 boxes)Collection includes correspondence with other circus and stunt performers, telegrams, photographs and a photomontage of Baker, programs, clippings, trade and business cards, broadside advertisements, a button, and other ephemera.
Biographical / Historical
Conn Baker (1870-1944) was a white American bicycle racer, stunt cyclist in circuses, daredevil, and artist. He competed as a bicycle racer 1893-1898, touring the United States and then the world before retiring to study art in Paris. He returned to bicycling as a stunt rider in 1903, performing an act called "Looping the Loop" for which he took the stage name J. C. Carter and later, The Great Diavolo.
Arrangement
Collection is arranged roughly by document type.
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Custodial History
Ownership prior to this acquisition is unknown.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2022MT-98. Purchased from Between the Covers with the Frank E. Chase Bequest, 2022 May 3.
Processing Information
This collection was processed to a basic level with minimal rehousing, organization, and preservation. (Melanie Wisner, 2022)
Creator
- Baker, Conn (Person)
- Title
- Baker, Conn. Conn Baker professional cycling papers,1892-1982 (inclusive), 1892-1908 (bulk)(MS Thr 2204): Guide
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard University
- Date
- 2022 June 6
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- hou03479
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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