Peck & Snyder UPDATE !!

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Posted By: Anonymous

Here is some info I found that my be helpful. This individual's great grandmother worked for Peck & Snyder. He may have some info to fill in the blanks. His e-mail address is at the bottom. Good Luck. Go Gators!

David Harris' Peck & Snyder Antique Collectibles Page

I am working on my family genealogy and would like to find information or equipment that may have been manufactured by Peck and Snyder Sporting goods of New York City. Peck and Snyder was the largest sporting goods manufacturer in the 1870's and the 1880's. I believe Peck and Snyder began around 1859 by Andrew Peck and W. Irving Snyder.

My great grandmother Cornelia Snyder tied baseballs at their store which was a 6 story building on Nassau street just north of the stock exchange in New York. The address was listed as 126, 128 & 130 Nassau. I believe the current street numbers are off from what they were then. Peck and Snyder was bought by A. G. Spaulding around 1894 and it does not appear that Spaulding kept any of the brand name "Peck and Snyder" or "P & S."

In 1888, W. Irving Snyder accompanied A. G. Spaulding and two baseball teams for a trip around the world to promote baseball. Spaulding's Chicago team and an all-star team started their trip in the fall of 1888. They were accompanied by many news people, however I have not found very much written on their experiences. They traveled by train from Chicago to San Francisco, then on to Hawaii, Aulstralia, Egypt, France, and England. They returned to New York City two weeks late, after the baseball season had already started.

Peck and Snyder sold all types of sports equipment, games, uniforms, and fire fighting equipment. Much of the equipment appeared to have a "P & S" stamped on them. They sold such items as tennis rackets, baseballs, bats, fishing lures, and ice skates. I believe they even had patents on some products like their ice skates. At one time, they had an office in London, England. Some time after the store was sold, a brother Ward Snyder and Irving Snyder were both listed as having a fishing tackle store in New York in the early 1900's.

Catalogs were published each year of the products they sold. There is a reprint of Peck and Snyder catalog of 1886 that is out of print by Payne Press. It was printed in 1970 and is out of print. There were also smaller catalogs that are in the Library of Congress, one of which I have a copy from 1875. There are also originals on the antique market, 1870, 192 pages for $185, and an 1889, 275 pages for &1000.

Peck and Snyder sent a collection of 35 items of sporting goods to the Smithsonian in the 1880's for preservation. There are baseballs from Peck and Snyder in the Baseball Hall of Fame (Peck and Snyder "Dead Ball). There is a P&S spinning lure that is collected from the 1880's, but I am told that this is from the P&S Ball Bearing Company out of Whitehall, New York. I don't know if there is any connection.

This is about the extent of my knowledge of Peck and Snyder Sporting goods. I would like to find memorabilia or more information on the company. I would appreciate any information anyone might have about Peck and Snyder. Thank you.


David Harris d-harris@iserv.net