This book is Albert Spaldings work of "historic facts concerning the beginning, evolution, development and popularity of base ball, with personal reminiscences of its vicissitudes, its victories and its votaries." It is one of the defining books in the early formative years of modern baseball.

Census records and name lists for New York are found mostly at the county level, which is why this work shows precisely which census records or census substitutes exist for each of New York's sixty-two counties and where they can be found. In addition to the numerous statewide official censuses taken by New York, this work contains references to census substitutes and name lists for time periods in which the state did not take an official census. It also shows the location of copies of federal census records and provides county boundary maps and numerous state census facsimiles and extraction forms.

The author undercuts the bombast of current publicity surrounding school failure and reform, exposing some of the educational delusions Americans tolerate and suggesting more honest approaches to formal education.