Scope and Contents

Artifacts originally created for physical activities that are often competitive. This classification includes equipment used in all forms of athletic games, including individual and team sports. Sports and their specialized equipment have proliferated over the years. Object groupings in this classification focus on th most popular sports while not attempting to be encyclopedic. Object terms seek to cover the forms that are the most familiar and most likely to be part of museum collections. If a specific term is not listed, consider using the broader "Gear" term. terms covering practice, warm-up, and exercise equipment can be found in Recreational Devices. Note: The word "Gear," employed in many of the primary object terms below, suggests a plural connotation even though Nomenclature object terms are in the sigular. The use of "Gear" as an object term (rather than as a sub-classification) provides the cataloger with terms that allow the indexing of an unlisted object or an object whose term is listed elsewhere with its associated sport.