Does anyone know of a online or published history of the USCF, especially the early years?
Steven Craig Miller
One is needed. Can you do it?
Unfortunately, one has to root through hundreds of issues of Chess Life and Review, state federation magazines and newsletters to get even a glimpse of USCF history. There have been only a few books on the development of chess in America, and those often tended to focus on the great players and tournaments or the US Championship. An example is “America’s Chess Heritage: From Benjamin Franklin to Bobby Fischer- and Beyond,” by Walter Korn, which was published in 1978. Korn only briefly mentions the merger that created the USCF. Many of the players who wrote autobiographies were too busy playing chess and said little about the national or regional organizations that existed at the time,
There have been occasional attempts to present USCF history on the pages of Chess Life and Review, which was shortened to just Chess Life. The only places I know of that have magazine issues that go back to the 1930’s period are the White Library in Cleveland and the Pittsburgh Chess Club. There may be individual collectors who have complete sets of the magazines. As far as state newsletters go, I have seen some mention of USCF issues and history in the Pa. State Chess Federation newsletters going way back, but this record is very spotty. You would think that we as chess players would have more of an affinity for chess history, but institutional history is not a strong point. Nor is it a strong point with many other organizations either. It would be a yeoman’s job to do all of the research, collation, interpretation, and writing of such a history. Not likely to be a big seller, but some private chess publisher might be willing to help produce and sell it.
You still wouldn’t make a dollar.
Here’s one source of information which is readily available: the 2006 Chess Life Yearbook
Where does Max Judd fit in?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Judd
Re: From BobMessenger: “Here’s one source of information which is readily available: the 2006 Chess Life Yearbook.”
Thanks, that helps!
Steven Craig Miller
It is probably poor form to answer one’s own question, but if anyone is interested in the history of the USCF, the following sources might be of some interest.
Avery, Bryce D. 2000. Correspondence Chess in America. McFarland & Company.
“50 Years of American Chess …. 1939—1989.” 1989. Chess Life (August) 31-60.
Lawrence, Al. 2009a. “On the Shoulders of Chess Giants: USCF’s 1st Decade: 1939-1948.” Chess Life (January) 10.
----. 2009b. “Ratings, Rules, and Rockets: USCF’s 2nd Decade: 1949-1958.” Chess Life (February) 9.
----. 2009c. “Firsts and Fallout Shelters: USCF’s 3rd Decade: 1959-1968.” Chess Life (March) 11.
----. 2009d. “Both Sides of the Moon: USCF’s 4th Decade: 1969-1978.” Chess Life (April) 10.
----. 2009e. “The Turn-Around: USCF’s 5th Decade: 1979-1988.” Chess Life (May) 10.
----. 2009f. “That Championship Decade: USCF’s 6th Decade: 1989-1998.” Chess Life (June) 10.
----. 2009g. “Y2K 2 Xville: USCF’s 7th Decade: 1999-2009.” Chess Life (July) 10.
----. 2009h. “One Word Per Week: Confessions of a Twitter-Like Historian.” Chess Life (August) 10.
Marinello, Beatriz and Tim Hanke. 2003. “Time for a New Chessboard.” Chess Life (November) 1 & 4.
Skoff, Frank. 1979. “A History of National Chess Organizations in the United States.” Chess Life & Review (August) 438-441; (October) 568-571; (November) 630-631; (December) 696-699.
Soltis, Andy and Gene H. McCormick. 1997. The United States Chess Championship, 1845-1996. 2nd edition. McFarland & Company.
Seems like it should be on the website, doesn’t it?
IMO … a full index to Chess Life should be online. And complete PDF copies should be online as well, at least after a delay of one to five years. If they made PDF copies of Chess Life, and then released them on line after five years or so, they would be available for anyone wanting to do historical research. And many of the old articles would still have instructional value. It seems to me to be a win-win situation.
Steven Craig Miller
Given that records weren’t kept as great as they are now (thanks to technology and a structured chain of command staff) I highly doubt that there’d be a huge of inventory of archived documents for which to get a grasp of the earlier part of the USCF. Plus how great was the “Policy Board” in keeping records as the Executive Board does today? I’m guessing good odds that the answer is the equivalent of night and day.
This a moot opinion as both sentences are up and have been up on http://main.uschess.org/content/blogcategory/285/365/ The very first Chess Life magazine since Chess Life was saved as a pdf is available for download 24/7 by USCF members. If the funding were right would it be great to scan earlier copies of Chess Life for archival reasons? Absolutely, but realistically that’s not going to happen. With regards to the original topic, thank goodness for the annual yearbook as it does provide the basis for writing such a history, if I recall this year’s copy ran within the May 2011 issue. In any case you’d still need executive board documents and the easier members who are still alive to interview. The latter is the simplest though people are aging and some passing away, if such a comprehensive project were to be done I’d do it A.S.A.P.
Once more copies of Chess Life are available as pdf, some earlier copies of the Chess Life Yearbook I believe are available from the USCF store at a cost (see: http://www.uscfsales.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=yearbook)
If such a project were to ever get off the ground I’d suggest that the executive board create an ad-hoc history committee to allow for complete access to such documents from the national office. Then float the idea to the Chess Journalists of America, you’re bound to find some individuals who might take on working with that committee to write a fair and unbiased History of the USCF. The executive board would have get to get moving quickly as the people’s experiences augment and even fill voids of available or missing documents. It’s a major undertaking of a project but it in all honesty it could be done! 
Full transparency:
Senior Member, USCF Publications Committee
Awards Committee Chairman and Chief Awards Judge, Chess Journalists of America
Steven Craig Miller
[/quote]
To do a comprehensive history of the USCF would be a herculean task but not impossible. One problem would be the loss of a good deal of historical material during the transfer from New Windsor to Crossville.
Here is a list of material that would be very helpful:
- The Hall of Fame- History of U.S. Chess by Dr. John McCrary
- Chess Life and Review by Bruce Pandolfini – Volumn 1 1930 to 1960
- Chess Life and Review by Bruce Pandolfini – Volumn 2 1960 to 1988
- Correspondence Chess in America Chess by Bryce Avery ( covers period from 1909 to 1991)
- Blindfold Chess by Hearst and Knott
- The many letters to organisers throughout the US by Fred Cramer – covers the period of ;ate fifties to early sixties.
- My Book CHESSDON – covers 1980’s through 1990’s
Andy Soltis’ Book on USA Championships. - Interviews with folks like Frank Brady, Walter Shipman, Lev Alburt, Al Lawrence etc.
I could go on as there are a lot more sources and I probably inadvertently left out some of the best – it is a matter of picking , choosing and doing a great deal of work.
Don Schultz
For ease of access, there’s CL on DVD.
wholesalechess.com/chess/che … n_19331955
Don’t have it, but I believe it goes thru at least 1975.
I have 'em. They go thru '75 as you say. They’re great browsing, especially if you copy 'em to the hard drive and have a good monitor.