1729.1
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At Harvard, Batt and Ball "Stirs Our Bloud Greatly"
| Salience | Noteworthy |
|---|---|
| Tags | College, Harvard CollegeCollege, Harvard College |
| Location | |
| City/State/Country: | Cambridge, MA, United States |
| Modern Address | |
| Game | Bat-and-BallBat-and-Ball |
| Immediacy of Report | Contemporary |
| Age of Players | YouthYouth |
| Holiday | |
| Notables | |
| Text | From Harvard College, In a letter written from Harvard College dated March 30, 1729 to Nicholas Gilman, John Seccomb wrote: “The Batchelors Play Batt & Ball mightily now adays which Stirs our bloud greatly” |
| Sources | Nicholas Gilman papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, as cited in Clifford K. Shipton, New England Life in the Eighteenth Century (Harvard University Press, 1995), p. 287. |
| Warning | |
| Comment | Brian Turner notes that this find "predates by 33 years the 1762 ban on bat-and-ball (along with foot-ball, cricket, and throwing snow-balls and stones in the streets of Salem -- see entry 1762.2). It also predates by two decades a reference in a 1750s French & Indian war diary kept by Benjamin Glazier of Ipswich." (See entry 1758.1) Gilman was from a leading family of New Hampshire, mainly centered in Exeter, a bit inland from Portsmouth, where Elwyn gave a description of 1810's "bat & ball," in which he certainly seems to name a specific game. (See entry 1810s.9). Seccomb, also spelled Seccombe, was born and lived in Medford, Mass., and later in life wound up in Nova Scotia -- not because he was a Loyalist, but for other reasons. Brian notes that "By “Batchelors,” Gilman probably means students pursuing a bachelor’s degree, hence the categorization of this entry under "Youth." For over two centuries, 14 was the age at which boys entered Harvard." (Email of 9/1/2014.)
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| Source Image | [[Image:|left|thumb]] |
| External Number | |
| Submitted by | Brian Turner |
| Submission Note | Emails of 8/30/2014 and 8/31/2014 |
| Has Supplemental Text |
1729.1 At Harvard, Batt and Ball "Stirs Our Bloud Greatly""
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