Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Wednesday’s Wonderful Collection - John Henry Roberson and family papers, MG.00469

John Henry Roberson was known to baseball fans as "Rube Robinson." Roberson was born August 16, 1889 in Floyd, White County, Arkansas. He was labeled "Rube Robinson" by the press. According to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, "His baseball career as a pitcher covered 22 years. He signed his first professional contract in 1908 and reached the major leagues with Pittsburgh in 1911. He won 40 games for the Pirates and Cardinals in 1912-15. He joined the New York Yankees for one year and later pitched for Little Rock in 1916-17 and 1919-27, winning 26 games in 1920 and 1922. He spent part of 1923 on loan to New Orleans and was with the Arkansas Travelers part of 1928. He retired after the 1929 season with Atlanta. He had a career record of 304-222."
Roberson married Dorothy Lee Latture on December 28, 1912. She worked for the School Instruction Association which later became the Parent Teacher Association. Dorothy and John Henry had one son Fred O. Roberson. Fred and his wife Marie had two children, Gloria and Fred O., Jr.
After baseball, J.H. Roberson worked for Pulaski County and the Arkansas State Highway Department, retiring in 1959. Roberson often tutored children from the Riverside Community House on playing baseball, and in 1962 he was inducted into the Arkansas Hall of Fame. J.H. Roberson died in July 1965, in Little Rock, Arkansas.

This collection contains four scrapbooks and other material related to John Henry "Rube Robinson" Roberson's baseball career, and two scrapbooks related to Dorothy (Mrs. John Henry) Roberson's career with the Parent Teacher Association and her work as an assistant probation officer.
·         Scrapbook I, John Henry Roberson, 1911-1991
·         Call for military service, 1917
·         J.H. Roberson business cards, 1925 and undated
·         Income tax return, 1920-1925
·         Player contracts, 1918 and 1925
·         Correspondence of J.H. Roberson, 1922-1965
·         Scrapbook II, John Henry Roberson, undated
·         Missouri Pacific Station (the Railroad World Series), 1929 and undated
·         Scrapbook III, John Henry Roberson's best baseball years, 1917-1929
·         Newsclippings, 1954-1958
·         Arkansas State Highway Department, 1953-1959
·         Speech of Arkansas Hall of Fame banquet, 1962
·         Arkansas Hall of Fame program, John Henry Roberson, 1962 January 18
·         Arkansas Hall of Fame program, 1964 January 23
·         Life insurance, 1929
·         Scrapbook IV, John Henry Roberson, 1928-1966
·         Scrapbook V, Dorothy Latture Roberson newspaper clippings of the family, 1908-1962
·         Postcard, 1967
·         Parent Teacher Association newsclippings, undated
·         Scrapbook VI, Dorothy Latture Roberson, Pulaski County Assistant Probation Officer, and photographs, 1950-1967