No one driving through Middleburg in the past few months could possibly miss the impressive renovation and expansion of the Vine Hill property at the corner of The Plains Road and Washington Street.

The beautiful old home is being buffed and coiffed to a fair-the-well as the National Sporting Library (NSL) expands to become the country's first fine arts museum devoted to sporting art. Scheduled to open in the autumn of 2011, the new museum is destined to become a 'must-visit' destination for scholars and museum lovers around the world.

The National Sporting Library has long been a world-class destination for scholars and collectors, and is regarded by experts in the field as the sporting book equivalent of the illuminated manuscript library in New York, the Morgan Library Museum founded by J. Pierpont Morgan.

The NSL founded in 1954 by George L. Ohrstrom, Senior, president of the Orange County Hunt and Alexander Mackay-Smith, then editor of The Chronicle of the Horse, to preserve and to share the art, literature and culture of horse and field sports. Ohrstrom, Sr., and Mackay-Smith were avid sporting book collectors, and they wanted their collections and those of their friends, to remain intact and available for use after their death.

Over time, not only many fine books and manuscripts, but many important examples of sporting art were given to the Library.

Today, The Library's Sporting Art Collection requires much more public wall space than the limited exhibition space the Library can provide. Many collectors who have indicated they would like to leave their sporting art to the Library are excited and encouraged by the addition of the National Sporting Art Museum (NSAM).

The Ohrstrom Legacy

After the death of his father, George L. Ohrstrom, Jr., took over the reins at the National Sporting Library. He led the Library for the next 48 years.

"He was the guiding force behind this magnificent institution," emphasized Manuel H. Johnson, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the NSL.

Until now a museum specializing in Sporting Art has not had a formal home in the United States. The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga, NY, focuses on the thoroughbred racing, but there is not a museum dedicated to sporting art.

Such art has sometimes found a place, but seldom a focus, in the many museums and universities where it has been received as a part of legacy giving.

Past exhibitions, lectures and symposia at the NSL have included sporting art of all kinds: panoramic paintings, etchings and watercolors, bronze sculptures, decorative objects and artifacts. These pieces were sometimes borrowed from private collectors or institutions to enhance the exhibit and establish a visual context for the program.

"We have already mounted important exhibitions including shows from private collectors, such as, Joan Irvine-Smith and Elizabeth D. Clark as well as loans from museums like the Yale Center for British Art and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts," said Curator of Fine Art F. Turner Reuter, Jr.

"With our new museum, however, we will be better able to display artwork in a space designed for optimal viewing, grow our collection, and share how animal and sporting imagery is a reflection of the natural world."

The new National Sporting Art Museum is certain to attract an international audience of dedicated and interested visitors to Middleburg and to Hunt Country.

Whether you are an artist, a collector or an art lover, you understand the fundamental role art plays in the establishment of ideas and ideals.

"Land preservation and enthusiasm for country sport have always been fundamentally linked." Reuter continued. "To protect land and its animals and to practice and preserve the traditions of country life have always been a way of life for me. I believe NSAM will create a broader understanding and deeper appreciation of the history and cultural impact of field sports and agrarian culture."

Reuter concluded, "If we're right, this initiative will be a tremendous asset to environmental preservation."

For those who are not yet familiar with Middleburg's National Sporting Library, this is an important moment to visit what is now regarded as a global treasure.

It is a non-profit institution that is open to the public Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. It attracts scholars and bibliophiles from all over the world who research topics as diverse as falconry and horses in warfare. It is an active participant in the Inter-Library Loan System, and regularly responds to requests from libraries around the country and the world for one of its comprehensive collection.

"Of our 17,000 books, 4,000 are in our Rare Book Room," NSL Chief Operating Officer Rick Stoutamyer explained.

"Over the years, the book collection has grown significantly. It is harder to find important, published sporting volumes that are not already in our Rare Book Room. For this reason, we are interested in adding manuscripts, unpublished papers and other unique items that researchers and scholars can have access to."

Housed in a discreet, beautiful building that offers reading rooms, open stacks, and an astounding rare book collection, the NSL is a major asset to Middleburg and to the world. The legacy of the leaders of Hunt Country are everywhere in evidence, whether it is an important painting of sportsman Lord Lonsdale or the Forrest E. Mars, Sr. Exhibit Hall.

Treasures of the NSL

Nestled in the Rare Book Room are seven volumes of Audubon's first Octavo Edition published between 1840 and 1844 in which there are 500 hand-colored plates of the birds of North America.

Also in the Rare Book Room resides Captain Vladimir Littauer's personal collection of equestrian books. He arrived in New York City after the Russian Revolution and established a riding academy in Central Park. His collection was a gift to the NSL from his family.

Long after Teddy Roosevelt completed his "Riding to the Hounds on Long Island," article for Century Magazine, the hand-written manuscript with corrections was elegantly preserved in a beautiful red leather, gold embossed case. This delightful slip-cased document with a copy of the actual magazine is also found in the NSL's Rare Book Room.

"As stewards of so much significant original material, the NSL has a responsibility to provide the broadest possible access to its collection." Reuter added, "After the successful publication of my own book 'Animal and Sporting Artists in America,' the Board has agreed to explore opening a publishing division with plans to print other volumes that exemplify our mission statement."

Recently, Sandra Swart, a South African writer was in the Library doing research for a history of women and horses. She was ecstatic about the NSL collection.

"I met Director of Research Elizabeth Tobey at a Renaissance Horses Conference in Roehampton, London and couldn't believe how much of what I needed for my next book was in Middleburg, Virginia," she remembered. "After a bit of research, I organized my trip to have four days here. Frankly, I could spend four weeks and still not have scratched the surface of this fabulous collection."

George "Frolic" Weymouth, founding director of the Brandywine Conservancy and Museum in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, emphasizes that sporting art represents the country's earliest instincts toward preservation and conservation.

"Expanding the NSL to include the Fine Arts Museum will be of immense value to preservationists. Its existence will ensure that the history of environmental and preservationist pursuits are understood by generations today and in the future."

"The story of carriage transportation, one of my passions, will be a small but historically significant chapter in both the Library and the new Museum," Weymouth added. "That delights me."

In the Eccentric's next article about the National Sporting Library's Fine Art Museum, you will learn much more about the collection strategy and philosophy, the beautiful building that is going up so quickly and the many Hunt Country leaders who have become stewards of the story of sport in the American countryside.

If you would like to discuss endowing one of the funds that are now being created for the National Sporting Library & Museum Portfolio, please contact Rick Stoutamyer at rstoutamyer@nsl.org. If you would like to discuss creating a legacy gift of art to the new Museum, Turner Reuter would be very pleased to answer your questions and give you a tour. You may contact Turner at treuter@nsl.org.

If you have not yet visited the current exhibit, 'The Lives of Dogs,' at the National Sporting Library, please plan to do so. The private collection of dog collars is only one aspect of this lovely exhibit that you will never forget.