Isn't there a bowling hall of fame and museum in St. Louis?  Maybe you could start there and see what kind of info they might have.

--------------------
9-

Why, WHY won't the last one just fall??  It's WIGGLING for cryin' out loud!!

A good history with pics:

http://www.candlepin.com/cphistor.htm

A neat pic:

http://smithtown.topcities.com/images/pinboy.gif

Probably a great page, I just cant read russian: www.club300.ru/public/content/ history/museum

Don't forget about pin boys. And the chalk on the end of the ball return.

Mr. H,
Here is a link to the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame website:

http://www.bowlingmuseum.com/

I hope this helps you.
--------------------
RW (THB)

at the turn of the 20th century bowlers used wooden balls---usually made from lignum vitae, a wood so hard and dense it wouldn't float. the hard rubber bowling ball was first out on the market in 1905 by the american hard rubber company. this company was acquired by brunswick and they improved the product. bowling pins at the time were solid maple with flat bottoms---difficult to knock down. the lanes were not oiled in this era. the lanes were coated with shellac, a very soft and pliable coating. the repeated travel down the lanes by the balls caused a groove or track to wear into the shellac. there were no arrows or dots for the bowlers to use as targets. almost all bowlers played in the worn track area to get to the pocket. most used a two finger grip---the middle finger and the thumb. neither the fingertip grip nor the three-finger grip had come along yet. most players threw a spinner so the ball would retain some energy on the backend. needless to say all these elements resulted in a challenging way to try and knock down all ten pins. high scores were common though( sound familiar ! ). for years the abc record for the highest sanctioned three game series was rolled on shellac by allie brant of lockport, new york, in 1937( 886 ).