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Museum in New York acquires Billie Jean King archive

Museum in New York acquires Billie Jean King archive | iNFOnews.ca
FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2016 file photo, Billie Jean King speaks during the opening ceremony during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, in New York. The New-York Historical Society has acquired the archive of the tennis great. The museum said Friday, Sept. 16 it includes documents, objects and personal scrapbooks and photographs. Highlights are King's 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom and a patriotic Philadelphia Freedoms team dress King wore in 1974 that inspired a song by Elton John. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)

NEW YORK – The New-York Historical Society has acquired the archive of tennis great Billie Jean King .

The museum said Friday it includes documents, objects, personal scrapbooks and photographs. Highlights include her 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom, the first to be awarded to a female athlete.

Other items include a patriotic Philadelphia Freedoms team dress that inspired a song by friend Elton John. King wore it during the 1974 inaugural season of the World Team Tennis league, which she co-founded.

King won 39 Grand Slam titles and lobbied for pay equality in the sport. She famously beat Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes” match on Sept. 20, 1973.

The National Tennis Center, which hosts the U.S. Open, was renamed for her in 2006.

Selected items will go on view at the museum’s Center for Women’s History, slated to open next spring.

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