Dr. James Naismith writes to his daughter Helen in 1917 in this two page handwritten letter while he is stationed in Del Rio, TX with the Kansas National Guard. He asks after his wife and children and mentions that it is so hot that there are electric fans in every hotel room.
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James A. Naismith (November 6, 1861 – November 28, 1939), known as "The Father of Basketball" was born in Almonte, Ontario. When he was nine, both of his parents died of typhoid fever and he was raised by his uncle, who later financed Naismith's way through college. He earned his theological degree from McGill University and graduated from Springfield College, then the YMCA Training School, in 1891. After graduation, he was hired as a faculty member, where he taught for five years. It is in his first year as a faculty member at Springfield College that he created the game of Basketball as an activity for an unruly class. In 1895, Naismith enrolled at the Gross Medical School in Denver and received his M.D. in 1898. In that same year, Naismith took the position of department head of physical education at the University of Kansas, where he remained until his death.
The date comes from a hand-written copy of an envelope that came with the letter and the letter of authenticity. On this document it says June 19th, 1917. The archives does not know where the original envelope is. This date does fit with other letters that Naismith is known to have written from Del Rio Texas;
