Nestled in the verdant, rolling hills of Virginia horse country not far from the nation’s capital is The National Sporting Museum & Library (NSLM), America’s must-see museum for outdoorsmen, especially those interested in upland hunting and sporting and working dogs.
Indeed, Conde Nast Traveler named the NSLM one of America’s top 51 museums, and the best in Virginia.
Established in 1954, the NSLM honors the heritage of America’s country field sports – angling, wingshooting and equestrian pursuits – by collecting, preserving and exhibiting a range of artwork and literature.
Its collection of more than 20,000 books, periodicals, artworks, and archival materials can be found on a six-acre campus in the well-heeled hamlet of Middleburg, the heart of Virginia hunt country.
In the Library stacks, you can find upland hunting master-works, such The Old Man and the Boy (Robert Ruark), Grouse Feathers (Burton Spiller), New England Grouse Shooting (W.H. Foster), My Health is Better in November (Havilah Babcock) and The Upland Shooting Life (George Bird Evans).
The Main Reading Room, besides having long wooden tables for work or study, has cozy nooks with sunlit easy chairs, ideal for whiling away an afternoon while browsing a tome or two from the vast collection.
(Please note: The NSLM isn’t your corner public lending library; its holdings can’t be checked out, but they may be accessed on-site for pleasure reading or research.)
If interested, NSLM members can visit the F. Ambrose Clark Rare Book Room with supervision. Fortunately, many of its prized works of literature can be accessed through the Library’s online catalog. Even more will soon be available thanks to a multi-year digitization project.
The Library staff is also available to visitors of all kinds – students, scholars and other specialists – for reference and research assistance. They will also field questions and share their expertise on America’s sporting traditions and life.
Prefer the visual to the printed? You’re in luck.
Next door to the Library is a fine arts museum, which houses several hundred (largely) American and British works, including paintings, sculptures, works on paper, objets d’art and other ephemera.
Twice a year, temporary exhibitions (curated in-house or traveling from other institutions) grace the main galleries. Rotating selections from the permanent collection are on display in the historic Vine Hill building, which dates back to 1804.
Ogden Minton Pleissner, The Covey Rise, 1960, watercolor on paper, sight size 16 ¾ x 28 inches.
Capturing the essence of upland hunting’s culture, the permanent collection includes Ogden Pleissner’s The Covey Rise, Percival Rosseau’s English Setters Drinking from a River and Edmund Osthaus’ Setters on Point. There’s even a dog collar collection that dates back to the 17th century.
The NSLM also holds programs and events, including lectures, book signings, art classes, film festivals and tours, making it a hub of sporting culture in the metropolitan DC area. The Library plays an important role in celebrating, documenting and preserving the art, literature and culture of country field sports and land conservation, making it an unexpected treasure for anyone interested in the history and heritage of upland hunting.
Dr. Peter Brookes is an award-winning outdoor and travel writer based in the Washington, DC area.