The Tremaine Arkley Croquet Collection contains paintings, illustrations, engravings, advertisements, photographs and other ephemera depicting the game of croquet, dating from the 1850’s to the 1950’s. The images range from fine art to cartoons and everything in between, and show the rise in the game’s popularity in England and America in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. The collection offers a fascinating glimpse at gender roles, as croquet was one of the first games that men and women played together.

The collection is a donation to the Rare Books and Special Collections division of the library by Tremaine Arkley, a former player on the U.S. National Croquet Team and member of the Arkley family whose children’s literature collection also resides in Rare Books and Special Collections.