USGA Acquires Landmark Schickler Photo Collection

North Berwick from the Howard Schickler Photography Collection

Judging by what’s shown at USGA.org and what’s hinted at as part of the Howard Schickler Photography Collection, the USGA has made an incredible acquisition for golf.

Danny Vohden highlights some of the collection’s strengths, with a nice sampling of shots embedded atop the article.

The collection contains more than 1,000 high-quality, historically and artistically important golf images from the 19th and early 20th century. Many photographs feature top American and British golfers, both men and women, from the mid-1800s to the 1970s. The collection was amassed over decades by collector Howard Schickler, sourced from the collections of some of the game’s most influential figures, including the personal collections of Old Tom Morris and F.G. Tait, the Auchterlonie and the Foulis families, the estate of Billy Burke and the collections of Ed Dudley and Bernard Darwin. 

Schickler’s love of golf began when he started playing the game at age 13 in New York City. As a longtime curator and dealer of fine art photography, Schickler brings a unique perspective to this collection. 

“I have been mostly interested in the human story in all the collections I have personally built,” said Schickler. “The collection in many ways tells the story, and to the extent important photographs are dispersed in the marketplace, a cohesive story may be permanently lost. I tried to bring stability and credibility to the collecting part by assisting other collectors, historians and auctions… and it made the collection that I was building that much more worthy to stand the test of time.”