Burdick Collection
 

I have the opportunity to check out the Burdick collection at the met for the first time this weekend. Does anyone know what is currently on display or have any favorites to take notice of? Thanks in advance-

I would love to see his collection. I can't help with what is out now but maybe someone will know how to find out (call them?). Please give us a report if you go...LL

If u just show up without an invitation to view the collection you will see whatever they have on display at the time. The last time I was there they focused on female baseball cards and non sports cards...I was not happy!!!

I have seen the Wagner there on display many years ago...but it can be anything...and I don't think they display the wagner often.

Also sometimes they will have somewhat of a chronology...which is nice...showing cards from the beginnings to 30's. Take some pics.

The exhibit is tucked in a little hallway near american furniture I believe.

Steve- there is always a small display of Burdick material just steps away from the room that houses the collection. But the display is minimal and will only take you a moment or two to view. The actual collection of albums that Burdick put together is in a special room, just behind all those musical instruments (you'll see when you get there). That is of course by appointment only.

Please note that while a visit to the collection is a great experience that every serious collector should enjoy, don't expect to find every baseball card ever issued. In that respect you will be disappointed. Just look at whatever you can and take it all in. Highlights include his Old Judges, and some very nice tobacco, candy, and gum sets. But you won't find everything you want. It's a mixed bag in that respect.

I heard they alternate his display in the American Wing of the Met every 3 months. I think the Wagner is on permanent display, not sure though.

~Owen

I went this summer and the Wagner was out, for whatever that is worth.

The Wagner is not on permanent display, I missed it by 1 day last year.
Here is a link about the current exhibit up until April 9, 2015.

http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions...tober-rotation

I put together a small collection inspired by one of the Burdick exhibits at the museum in 2012.
In 2012 after the Metropolitan Museum of Art presented the "Breaking the Color Barrier in Major League Baseball" exhibit, I decided to put together a mirror collection of the cards that were displayed.
The cards were from the Jefferson R. Burdick collection that is housed in the museum. They are of "some of the earliest and most illustrious players who moved from the Negro leagues into the Majors".
I now have 21 of the 22 cards. I'm missing the Hank Aaron 1954 Topps card. I included the museum links below, then scans of my collection. ENJOY!

Selected Artworks | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Breaking the Color Barrier in Major League Baseball


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps4e59a0a2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psa4f47aab.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps94c8f42e.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps539624ca.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psbd078bec.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psc12073f6.jpg

nice collection herbc

Indeed! Cool collecting theme and good luck with the "54 Aaron!

I just went back and saw this, very cool, Herb. ....

As Barry said, the Old Judges are fantastic. I have seen them on several occasions. Barry took me along in the 1990s when he was working on an article, and I went through them a few times with Joe when we were working on the Old Judge book. Interestingly enough, Burdick had no California League cards (or at least none are there now). Otherwise, he had a pretty fantastic selection, with his cards,in general, being in exceptional shape.

My daughter and her boyfriend happened to be going to The Met today to see (primarily) some frescoes from a villa in Boscoreale near Vesuvius. I told them they had to at least check out whatever was on display from the Burdick collection while they were there. They did, but said it was very hard to find, was very small, and there were no Old Judges in the grouping displayed.

Kevin- the display is minimal, and while an attraction to the novice, wouldn't excite veteran collectors very much. You really need to make an appointment and see the albums to appreciate what is there.

sadly this is very true. i always make a bee-line to the exhibit when I go to the met...only to be disappointed most times! You will see much more at a good show!

I did check out the display this weekend. As many stated there was nothing currently out that you didn't see down the road in White Plains. It was about 20 framed scrapbook pages with full of a sample of cards from various sets. There was an Obak, T206 and nice Mecca doubles. A few Goudy sheets as well as several Play Ball, Bowman and early Topps. It was still an enjoyable escape from Monet & Picasso. The T206 page was almost all Brooklyn subjects with a 2 name Ball. This display was put together 50-60 years ago so it gave me a chuckle to notice the short, diamond cut and wavy edge examples we dismiss as altered today. They either came from ALC that way or were "improved" long before there was a monetary reason to do so. That will be my takeaway from this visit, with a hope to return and spend some time rooting through the entire collection.

I have called the Met twice to see the collection (I think photo's and prints is the department you ask for) the first time my Dad called about two weeks before we went and the second time was only a few days before we went. So anyone wanting to see the collection should definitely reach out and see if an appointment is possible.
When we arrived we were given a catalog of the collection and it was heavily notated (I think by J Burdick) and I remember clearly that the Wagner was on a stamp hinge so that you could look at the back of the card..Things were much more simple 35 years ago. we stopped by the gift shop and picked up a copy of the Burdick collection catalog when we left.
The Met is filled with priceless treasures of all kinds Samurai swords, Colt revolvers, Tiffany glass, something for everyone my second favorite place to spend an afternoon in NY (after Yankee Stadium)
J

Jonathan- did you have to give them a reason why you wanted to see the collection, such as needing to do research to write an article, or did they give it to you just for the asking? I know the last time I went, in 1997, they were getting pretty strict about giving out appointments. Hopefully, different people work there now who are easier to work with.

My wife and I dropped by the Met last month and I noticed that even Burdick had a place in his heart for "name at top" cuts. :D

One of the things I like about the exhibit is how it's tucked away in the back upper floors...when you're walking around the rest of the museum and need a break from all the people, go smile at some good ol' baseball cards.

Cheers,
Steve

Burdick (July 2015)
 

My wife and I visited NYC last week and among the 5 art museums we visited was the Met. I took some pictures of some of the Burdick pages that were on display. Cobb fans will like the T206 page. For anyone also interested in theater, I would highly recommend that you go so Fun Home.

Burdickville
 

I spend alot of time at the Met,,,one of the great palaces of art,for sure.
However,as others have noted,their exhibitions of cards are not their strong suit...
Around five years ago or so I spent some time in the Print/Photo Library there wearing white gloves and leafing through Burdick's albums of postcards and non-sports cards. I recall that it just required a phone call and simple appointment...
To see his collection of baseball materials though,I believe, does require some kind of extra clearance-----
In any case, well worth it just going through the nonsports material...you really get a feel for Burdick's aesthetic and organizational sensibility.

Highly Recommended

Great photos, Mike!

Frankly, I think it's a travesty that Burdick's cards are at the Met. If I ever have the ear of a member of the board of the museum I would try and convince them to sell/give the cards to a venue where they can get the attention and notoriety they deserve.

What would be a better place to House the Burdick collection than the Met? Visited by millions of visitors each year. The staff has the expertise and resources to maintain and preserve the cards. Not saying there is not a better place just wondered what that would be.
I know because of theft that security is increased but The Met, The Library of Congress and The Baseball Hall of Fame all Offer access to their collections and that many collectors have visited one or all of these. Not easy to balance Security. Preservation and creating displays that appeal to all levels of Folks that appreciate Baseball cards.
Understanding what Burdick went through when he searched for a home for his collection we are all fortunate that he and the Met agreed on a plan to preserve his collection that said all things change and evolve
J

We discussed this a while ago on the board and there was an article, I can't seem to find it now that detailed how in fact the collection had gone into bad shape and there were many pages that had to be fixed. There were also stories of people walking out with pages, this was before they limited perusal of the collection to only people with a research interest.

As for them being displayed, they are located in the corner of a lightly visited room. I've been there twice and I counted maybe 3 people on each occasion during the 20 minute interval I was present. There also wasn't a docent who could answer questions about the cards. I heard one person say that the Cracker Jack Wagner was the most valuable card, obviously mistaking it for the t206. It does the collection a severe injustice to be at a museum where it will be near the bottom of the barrel in terms of prestige.

Was able to stop by this weekend and check out what was on display. Currently both Wagner and Plank are out with some OJ Cabinets, Buchners, and the usual assortment of Goudey, Bowman early Topps.

I like the orange T206 Cobb-Burdick was ahead of his time!

Steve A. mentioned that both Wagner and Plank are out today. Even though you can see the Plank online, I wanted to see Burdick's in person, so I dropped by this afternoon. I'm always happy to see these cards. The OJs were really nice, too.

http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-m...ick-collection

Cheers,
Steve

Thanks for sharing Steve, hopefully this summer I will get to go.

I know they're only "baseball cards" but I think the Metropolitan Museum of Art could do a lot more with the display of its Burdick collection. I also think they severely underestimate the level of public interest if they were to exhibit the Honus Wagner along with the right combination of other cards of well-known players (e.g., 1952 Topps Mantle, 1914 CJ Cobb, 1916 Sporting News Ruth, etc.) in a more prominent place in the museum. I've listened to some of their curators speak about Burdick's cards and perhaps they just don't have anyone on staff who can truly appreciate what they've got.

Steve, thanks for these wonderful photos.

Guys, remember that these cards are prints, photographs, chromolithographs, etc. They are paper, and it is (good) conservation policy not to display paper objects in galleries with natural sunlight, and also to rotate them on and off display regularly to protect their condition and vibrancy. The Met has the best print, drawing and photo collection in the US, and you won't see the famous Albrecht Durer prints, Leonardo drawings, Ansel Adams photos, etc. regularly on display either, and that's done for conservation reasons. Even the museum's main print and photo gallery is essentially a hallway between two painting galleries without windows, where paper objects are unlikely to be damaged by natural light. By contrast, the American Art gallery (where Burdick's cards could well belong) is very well lit with natural light. So, putting them where they are, and rotating them on and off display is not necessarily done as a slight to the cards; it's done to protect them.

As for uninformed people in galleries not knowing a thing about the cards, the Met's staff of curators is not regularly wandering the galleries. If you're finding someone to ask about the cards, you're likely finding one of the wonderful employees who works as a gallery guard, or a volunteer leading a tour. Neither has any reason to be trained about baseball cards, or frankly the history of any object chosen at random, so it's a bit unfair to blame them for that fact.

A world class museum like the Met is not going to have a huge tourist bump for Burdick's cards. That's just the truth. Even if 100 of us suddenly decided to drop everything and head to Fifth Ave. for an afternoon to see Burdick's Wagner, it wouldn't be a noticeable bump in a museum that gets more than 5 million people a year. Wouldn't it be cool to see a baseball show at the Met, but it's an art museum.

I think it's worth remembering that Burdick was not just a baseball card collector, but he was a card collector, and he did remarkable things in terms of cataloguing such cards and advancing appreciation of them beyond those of us who look to him as a foundational bball card collector. It is a great thing that his collection, all of it, is kept safe in one of the world's premiere art museums. It means that each one of your cards is also "art." I think it brings great prestige to our own collections that they are displayed among the sort of objects in that museum. I also think that we all (mostly, except for the very rarest cards) collect multiples, and if you're dying to see one of the 50+ T206 Wagners in person, chances are very good that an auction house at a major show will have one on display in the next two years. (That's how I've seen them.) I think some of the complaints about a travesty or mishandling of the collection are unjustified. I once worked at the Met, so I'm partial, but that's my two (ten?) cents anyway.

Thanks for posting the pictures.

Does anyone know how the cards are mounted for display? Are the backs very damaged?

thanks

Bob