The Papers of Louise Rankine

At the invitation of the United States Women's Lacrosse Association, a Great Britain and Ireland Touring Team (GBITT) undertook a nine-week lacrosse tour of the USA from 29 March to 2 June 1954. They visited seven states during which they played matches against a variety of club and US national teams, participated in coaching programmes, and were invited to attend numerous social events and sightseeing activities. Louise Rankine (under the surname of her first husband David Dick) was selected as a member of the team. At the conclusion of the tour on 2 June, Louise left the touring party to fly from New York to Chicago for a two-week visit before returning to England aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth on 16 June.

Contains a large scrapbook documenting all aspects of the tour and the subsequent two-week visit to Chicago, from embarkation on the RMS Queen Mary on 24 March and return on the RMS Queen Elizabeth on 16 June. Items in the scrapbook are presented in chronological order and the majority are captioned. Contents include photographs of tour members and US hosts (with individuals named in photographs), press cuttings; ephemera from the Cunard Line and the MS Vulcania (notices, passenger list, stationary, menu cards, events programmes); itineraries (some home-made and personalised by US hostesses) and match programmes for different legs of the tour (Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey); a variety of printed material and ephemera from numerous social events and sightseeing trips (tourist maps, information guides, postcards, admission tickets, invitations, place cards, restaurant and diner menu cards, napkins, coasters, matchbooks); a programme for the lacrosse demonstration by the GBITT at the National Convention of the American Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation held on 19 April; a typescript report of the GBITT visit to Boston and match against the Boston Ladies' Lacrosse Association; cloth badges for a number of US ladies' lacrosse associations, and finally a copy of The Surrey Advertiser from 16 June 1954 carrying a report of the tour (p.11). Verses from the GBITT Tour Song recalling some of the highlights and amusing events of the tour are interspersed throughout the scrapbook.

Louise's two-week visit to Chicago is illustrated with ephemera from American Airlines, napkins, matchbooks and photographs of hosts and places visited.

Louise Anderson was born in 1920 and educated at Harrogate College where she learnt to play lacrosse.

Louise first played for the Scotland lacrosse team in 1938 at the age of 17. She kept lacrosse in Scotland alive during the Second World War (when no international matches were played) and worked tirelessly to promote the game. She played for Scotland again in 1947 until her retirement in 1960 and was appointed captain of the team in 1949, a position she held until 1959. In 1954 she was selected for the Great Britain and Ireland Touring Team which undertook a nine-week tour of the USA during which they were unbeaten. She was one of the co-founders of the Glasgow Ladies' Lacrosse team for whom she played regularly and in the 1950s was captain of the team. For a time, she wrote match reports for The Glasgow Herald under the name of 'Attack'.

In 1952 Louise became Secretary of the Scottish Ladies' Lacrosse Association (SLLA) and served as a member of the Scottish Selection Committee from around 1949 onwards, becoming Chairman of Selectors in the 1960s. She also served as President of the SLLA before being appointed as its Honorary President in 1974.

Louise was married twice, first to David Dick [in 1949-1950] and then to David Rankine (in 1965), both of whom predeceased her.

She died on 11 March 2005.

The scrapbook was originally contained in three binders which were too small for the volume of pages causing creasing and tears. The pages were removed and placed in 13 folders whilst maintaining the chronological order.

The scrapbooks were found amongst a collection of Elisabeth Carling's papers gifted to the University of Bedfordshire by her nephew, Paul Carling, on 28 January 2015 under Accession No. AWL2015/004.

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