Basket Ball
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Basket Ball. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
an American outdoor or gymnasium game. It was invented in 1891 by James Naismith, a member of the Springfield, Massachusetts, Young Men's Christian Association . It is played with a spherical, inflated ball, about ten inches in diameter. At either end of the hall or plot of ground, a hammock net is suspended from a ring about eighteen inches in diameter at a height of ten feet from the ground. The players, who may be of either sex, are divided into two parties or teams. A regular team should consist of at least five members,--a center, two forwards, and two guards. It is considered desirable that each team should wear a color by which its members can be distinguished readily. The game consists in throwing the ball into these nets or goals. Each party has its goal into which its members try to throw the ball. The game is started by an umpire, who throws the ball into the air. It may be struck with the hand, caught, or thrown by any player, but must not be carried, nor must the player touch the ball while it is in the hands of another. When the ball falls, it belongs to the player who first picks it up. It is not allowable to shove or detain a player. A player's progress may be barred by standing in the way. A throw may be obstructed by holding up of arms in front of the ball, or by springing up with outstretched arms. The game is an excellent one.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
an indoor game played upon a circumscribed space on a floor, usually by five players on each side. At each end of this playing space a basket is placed at a height of about 10 feet. The ball is round, somewhat lighter than a football, and is passed from one player to another by throwing, or striking with the hands only; the ultimate object being to lodge it in the opponent's basket, which action counts two points. The rules as to interference, playing out of bounds, etc., are adapted from those of football. BASLE. See BASEL.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's in 1910 described a ball that "must not be carried" and could only be struck, caught or thrown — no mention of the dribble, which was not yet the backbone of the game it has since become; Collier's in 1921 still called it simply "an indoor game" worth two points a basket. Since then the game has been rebuilt around scoring devices neither entry knew: the open-bottomed net replaced the closed hammock (players no longer fish the ball out), backboards became standard, the National Basketball Association was founded in 1946, a 24-second shot clock arrived in 1954, and the three-point line entered the NBA in 1979. Basketball became an Olympic sport for men in 1936 and for women in 1976, and is now played in nearly every country on earth. Aiton's note that players "may be of either sex" reads as unremarkable now; women's professional leagues, including the WNBA from 1997, are a fixture.
Written for this edition, 2026.