New Online: The Chicago Billiard Museum

Just checking out a cool new site -- The Chicago Billiard Museum. Looks like it includes a long pool history timeline, images of historic tables, and links to Charles Ursitti's great record tables. The new site appears to be the work of D.B. Bond and Ms. Joanne M. Charron. They've also used plenty of credited images and data from the collection of Mr. Ursitti,  which he has graciously posted online for free. Mr. Bond, in an email message to me, explains that the museum was originally contemplated only as an online facility, although "as we speak, the feasibility of a physical location is being investigated and discussed. Nothing official yet."

I don't know too much about this site yet, although reading the introductory page I'm told that The Chicago Billiard Museum honors "the passionate men and women who dedicated their lives to the betterment of the games and the industry as a whole; from the players themselves to the makers of the tables and cues to everyone in between."

So far I've come across plenty of interesting tidbits, including photographs of Jake Schaefer's grave marker,  a 1910 article noting that "Local Hero Cap Anson is Broke" and photographs of famous pool players and handbills. For the collector, there's also a table gallery and a memorabilia section. And of course, seeing as this website is devoted to Chicago pool, there's also a section listing Chicago's pool manufacturers. "As a producer of billiard and pool goods, Chicago was the hands-down industry leader," the curators note.

The museum adds to the growing list of online resources devoted to pool history, including this blog, my poolhistory.com site, charlesursitti.com and, of course, about a thousand cool videos on youtube and vimio. 

-- R.A. Dyer